National Pediatrician Day – January 28, 2027

History of National Pediatrician Day

While ancient scholars, including Aristotle and Hippocrates, recognized that children and adults need different treatments, traditional medical professionals cared for children and adults. A form of pediatrics reportedly existed in Ancient India, Ancient Greece, the Byzantine Empire, and Persia.

The first step towards separating child and adult care was a specialized center for children called the Hôpital des Enfants-Trouvés. It was a hospital for abandoned children, established in the 1600s in France. However, medicine did not catch up to these revolutionary ideas quite so fast. That is, until Swedish physician Nils Rosén von Rosenstein (1706 — 1773). He is considered by many to be the founder of modern pediatrics as a medical specialty, mostly because of his treatise, “The Diseases of Children and Their Remedies,” published in book form in 1764. These writings, which deal with how to treat children and infants and encourage progress in child health, are considered collectively to be the first modern pediatric textbook.

The early 19th century saw the first children’s hospital open in France. Early pediatric care centers soon spread to other countries throughout Europe, and later, all over the world. In the U.S., the first children’s hospital opened in Philadelphia in 1855.

The growth of pediatrics in America is attributed to Dr. Abraham Jacobi. A German pediatrician, he came to New York in 1853, subsequently forming societies devoted to pediatric health and creating children’s departments in New York hospitals. His practices informed other medical professionals, and pediatrics as a medical specialty was certified.

The entire field of pediatrics advanced rapidly, and by the 20th century, multiple specialties and subspecialties emerged. As the need and interest in varied areas of child health evolve, so too does the entire field of pediatrics.