Philip R. Dodge, M.D., one of the founders of pediatric neurology and head of the Department of Pediatrics for 21 years, died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, of heart failure at Barnes-Jewish Extended Care in St. Louis. He was 86.
Dodge, professor emeritus of pediatrics and of neurology and lecturer at the School of Medicine, was named professor and head of the Department of Pediatrics in 1967 and continued in that role until 1986. His creative leadership brought the department and the hospital to international prominence for clinical care, teaching and research.
Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, said Dodge was a giant in American pediatrics and in child neurology.
“He was a leader of exceptional vision, courage, skill and warmth,” Shapiro said. “Along with many others, I benefited from his support and wisdom. He revitalized the Department of Pediatrics and made it an exciting intellectual environment, which inspired many to pursue careers in pediatrics and in child neurology. He was substantially responsible for the creation of the modern St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Along with the rest of the University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital communities, I will miss him.”
“While at the School of Medicine, Phil was a revered teacher, spectacular clinician and consummate scholar and mentor,” said Alan L. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.D., the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of the Department of Pediatrics. “He trained and mentored most of the academic pediatric neurology leaders in the United States during the past four decades. We will profoundly miss him.”
“He was a gentle giant of pediatrics and neurology who was the architect and spirit of a renaissance of those fields at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital in the 1970s and 1980s,” said James P. Keating, M.D., the W. McKim O. Marriott Professor of Pediatrics.
Dodge’s trainees continued to seek his counsel and wisdom throughout their careers, said Edwin Dodson, M.D., associate vice chancellor and associate dean for admissions and continuing medical education and professor of pediatrics and of neurology.
“His genius, character and genuine warmth were most evident in the unpretentious and caring style with which he attended to and cared for the children and their families: always patient, always concerned, always tender,” Dodson said.
Prior to his appointment at the School of Medicine, Dodge was an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of the pediatric neurology program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
A Massachusetts native, Dodge earned a medical degree from the University of Rochester in 1948. He completed an internship at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., residency training at Boston City Hospital and teaching fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dodge spent six years as a major in the U.S. Army, serving as chief of the neurology services in Tokyo; Fort Campbell, Ky.; and Hawaii.
Dodge is survived by two daughters, Susan Diass of Rochester, N.Y.; Judy Speck of St. Louis, senior research technician in the Department of Otolaryngology; and four grandchildren.