Neonatologist named 2001 Distinguished Alumna

Staff Report

Dr. Hallam Hurt, a much-honored academic neonatologist, has always shown the strength of character to question conventional wisdom. The U.Va. Women’s Center has named Hurt, a 1971 Medical School graduate, its 2001 Distinguished Alumna, based upon her work with at-risk infants.

Hurt’s research explores the long-term outcomes of premature infants who are exposed to cocaine while in utero. Her study’s general conclusions — that children born of cocaine-using mothers did not fare significantly worse than their peers — have challenged conventional thinking in scientific and public policy arenas. Hurt’s work asks important questions about how we can best identify and assess risk while caring for vulnerable infants.

She will give a public talk on “The Sojourn of the Inner City Child” for the Medical Center Hour lecture Oct. 10 at 12:30 p.m. in the Jordan Conference Center Auditorium. Hurt will be honored at a benefit dinner for the Women’s Center Oct. 11, as well as spend time with students, medical students and residents and the School of Medicine Committee on Women during her visit.

After graduating from Sweet Briar College in 1967, Hurt attended Medical School and continued her training at U.Va. She became the first woman in pediatrics department history to be named chief resident. She helped pioneer a treatment for severe respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants, and worked in the first High Risk Follow-Up Clinic to extend the care for vulnerable newborns. Hurt has published more than 42 peer-reviewed articles and received multiple accolades for her written work.

In 1981, she was honored with the McLemore Birdsong Excellence in Teaching Award at U.Va. Later that year she was recruited by Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia as the academic Chair of the Division of Neonatology. Along with that post, Hurt is Professor of Pediatrics at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

For more than 20 years, Hurt has served as a compassionate and astute observer of the effects of drugs on the health of infants. She has blended critical care neonatology with a humanist commitment to understanding the social events in an urban environment that influence the outcome of premature birth. Her dedication to perinatal education programs has become known globally.

The University’s Women’s Center established the annual Distinguished Alumna Award in 1991 to honor female U.Va. graduates who have demonstrated excellence, leadership and extraordinary commitment to their fields, and who have used their talents as a positive force for change.