The Role of Oxygen in Retrolental Fibroplasia

[ In presenting an E. Mead Johnson award to Dr. Patz, Dr. Bakwin, President of the Acadcmv, made the following remarks: “Dr. Arnall Patz, Recipient of the Second E. NIead Johnson Award, was born in Elberton, Georgia, in 1920. He attended Emory University at Atlanta and graduated from the Medical School at that Universitv in 1945. Dr. Patz interned at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore; served in the Medical Corps of the Army for 2 years; following which he became resident in Ophthalmology at the District of Columbia General Hospital. In 1950 and 1951 Dr. Patz was Research Fellow in Ophthalmology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. [“Dr. Patz is certified b ’ the American Board of Ophthalmology and serves as an instructor in Ophthalmology at Georgetown Umiiversitv and Johns Hopkins University. During the past 9 \ears Dr. Patz has published 15 papers, 10 of them relating to his clinical studies, backed up by animal experimentation, which have clearly demonstrated the adverse effects of oxygen administration in relation to retrolental fibroplasia in small infants. No one in this country has been more influential in solving the problem of retrolental fibroplasia than I)i. Patz. His contributions are considered to be a beautifiil exercise in experimental medicine, the more noteworthy 1)ecause he made them while engaging in the private practice of ophthalmology. [“It is for these works that the Academy’s Committee on Awards has selected 1)r. Patz as the recipient of an E. \lead Johnson Award for 1956. This award consists of a handsome scroll amid a check for $1000 which we take pleasure in iio\v presenting to Dr. Patz. [“Dr. Patz will honor us by giving a r -suni ’ of his work which has contributed SO miiticli to pe(liatricS. [ Dii. P Tz: “I should like to exj ress my thanks to the American Academy of Pediatrics for the honor ou have accorded nie. As an ophthalmologist it is particularly gratifying to know that the work (lone in con( ueriI1g retrolental fibroplasia has received recognition from this distinguished group. [“Although I have been named as the recipient of this a vard, it is, in fact, a tribute to all the prominent scientists who have contributed to the ultimate victors’ against retroleutal fibro-