Miriam Esther Brailey (January 28, 1900 – April 8, 1976) was an American

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and epidemiologist.

Biography

Brailey was born in East Barnard,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. In 1922 she graduated from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

with a major in zoology. She went on to study at the

Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene a ...

and

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, th ...

. While there, she studied with

Wade Hampton Frost Wade Hampton Frost (March 3, 1880 – May 1, 1938) was an American epidemiologist. He is often considered the father of modern epidemiology. Early life and education Born in Marshall, Virginia, Frost was the son of a country doctor. He went on ...

, working on his tuberculosis studies. Much of their data came from the Harriet Lane Children's Home on the grounds of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she later served as director. Her thesis titled "A preliminary analysis of certain records of the tuberculosis clinic of the Harriet Lane Home: I. Tuberculosis infection in children of tuberculous families; II. The history to adolescence of children shown to be tuberculous during infancy " was unpublished. During the 1930s, Brailey became an instructor in both the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Hygiene and Public Health (their first female faculty member). Maryland passed the Subversive Activities Act (also known as the Ober Act) in 1949 which "called for state and city employees to sign an oath of loyalty stating that they were not and had never been involved in subversive activities." At that time, Brailey was working for the Health Department. Rather than sign the paperwork, she and two other Quakers refused. She stated that her "conscience would be very uneasy if I purchased the continuation of my job at the price of cooperating with legislation which I think is dangerous and undemocratic and will accomplish nothing." In March 1950, she was terminated from her position. She was named assistant professor in epidemiology in February 1951, shortly before being appointed assistant professor in pediatrics and medicine and director of the tuberculosis section of the Chest Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Brailey died of pneumonia near

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

Publications

*''Tuberculosis in White and Negro Children, Volume 2'' Commonwealth Fund, 1958Tuberculosis in White and Negro Children – Miriam Esther Brailey, Janet B. Hardy
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References

American women epidemiologists American epidemiologists {{DEFAULTSORT:Brailey, Miriam Esther 1900 births 1976 deaths Mount Holyoke College alumni Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty