Odile Schweisguth

Odile Schweisguth (1913-2002) was a French physician. She is considered the pioneer of Pediatric oncology in Europe.

She was born in 1913 in Remiremont in the Vosges department in France. After a training in the Red Cross Nursing School, in 1932 she started her medical studies in Nancy. In 1934, her family transferred to Paris and she joined them. She continued her studies in the University of Paris where she received her first medical degree in 1936. After World War Two she obtained her Doctorate in 1946, with a thesis in oncology under the direction of Pierre Ameuille.

Then, she oriented her medical interests on pediatrics and started to work with Robert Debré at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris.

In 1948, René Huguenin, Professor of Pathology and Director of the Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR) in Villejuif, south Paris, one the world’s leading cancer centers, wanted to open a pediatric section within the Institut. He invited Dr. Schweisguth to join the staff. She started as a consultant and became head of the pediatric oncology ward (the first one of that kind in Europe) in April 1952. She retired from IGR, but not from the profession, in 1978.

Bibliography

• Arty R. Coppes-Zantinga, Jean-Michel Zucker, and Max J. Coppes, "Odile Schweisguth, MD, Alma Mater of Pediatric Oncology", Medical and Pediatric Oncology 34:59–60 (2000
• Luisa Massimo, "Odile Schweisguth: Pioneer of European Pediatric Oncology", Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, 20:75–77, 2003