“Let’s score the baby.”
It was 1952 in a New York City hospital, and Dr. Virginia Apgar had just introduced an idea that would go on to save more than 50 million newborn lives.
Apgar had once set her sights on becoming a surgeon. She possessed the intelligence, determination, and dexterity to excel. Yet, in the 1940s, medicine remained largely closed to women, and hospitals routinely rejected female surgeons. Faced with that reality, Apgar pivoted. If she could not wield a scalpel, she decided she would still find a way to change the fate of patients.
She turned to anesthesiology, a relatively new field at the time, and in doing so, found her true calling.
While working in the maternity ward at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, she was deeply troubled by what she saw: countless newborns dying moments after birth. Clinicians had no structured method to determine which babies needed immediate intervention. Decisions were based on instinct, not evidence. The result was tragedy after tragedy.
One morning over breakfast, Apgar grabbed a napkin and began sketching an idea, a simple, objective way to assess a newborn’s condition at birth. She identified five key indicators:
It was 1952 in a New York City hospital, and Dr. Virginia Apgar had just introduced an idea that would go on to save more than 50 million newborn lives.
Apgar had once set her sights on becoming a surgeon. She possessed the intelligence, determination, and dexterity to excel. Yet, in the 1940s, medicine remained largely closed to women, and hospitals routinely rejected female surgeons. Faced with that reality, Apgar pivoted. If she could not wield a scalpel, she decided she would still find a way to change the fate of patients.
She turned to anesthesiology, a relatively new field at the time, and in doing so, found her true calling.
While working in the maternity ward at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, she was deeply troubled by what she saw: countless newborns dying moments after birth. Clinicians had no structured method to determine which babies needed immediate intervention. Decisions were based on instinct, not evidence. The result was tragedy after tragedy.
One morning over breakfast, Apgar grabbed a napkin and began sketching an idea, a simple, objective way to assess a newborn’s condition at birth. She identified five key indicators:
heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflex response, and skin color.
Each would receive a score from 0 to 2, with a maximum total of 10. The process took less than two minutes but could instantly signal whether a baby required urgent care.
This became known as the Apgar Score.
Within ten years, hospitals across the United States had adopted her method. Neonatal mortality rates dropped sharply. Doctors finally had a clear, universal language for assessing newborn health. Babies who might once have been lost were now being revived, thanks to a test born from both necessity and brilliance.
But Dr. Apgar’s influence did not end there. In her 50s, she earned a Master’s in Public Health, joined the March of Dimes, and dedicated the rest of her career to advancing maternal and infant wellbeing around the world. Despite the barriers she faced, she became one of the leading voices in perinatal health advocacy.This became known as the Apgar Score.
Within ten years, hospitals across the United States had adopted her method. Neonatal mortality rates dropped sharply. Doctors finally had a clear, universal language for assessing newborn health. Babies who might once have been lost were now being revived, thanks to a test born from both necessity and brilliance.
When asked how she managed to succeed in a field that once tried to exclude her, Apgar replied with her characteristic wit:
“Women are like tea bags. You never know how strong they are until they’re in hot water.”
Dr. Virginia Apgar passed away in 1974, but her impact endures. Today, every few seconds, somewhere in the world, a clinician announces an Apgar score, a quiet tribute to the woman who turned rejection into innovation and gave generations of newborns a fighting chance to breathe.
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