Dr. Margaret W. Hilgartner
Click here to Jack Arky's tribute to his mother, Dr. Margaret W. Hilgartner.
Family, friends and even a former patient of Dr. Margaret W. Hilgartner gathered at Uris Auditorium on Nov. 6 to share memories and stories of the brilliant doctor, devoted friend and caring wife, mother and grandmother. The event was officiated by the Rev. Curtis Hart, M.Div., director of pastoral care and education at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
"It is because of Margaret that I came to New York. It is because of Margaret and the foundations she laid in hemophilia that I remained in New York," said Dr. Donna DiMichele, medical director of The Regional Comprehensive Hemophilia Diagnostic and Treatment Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. "She was a fierce advocate for the people she cared for and the people she worked for."
Dr. Hilgartner passed away on Aug. 19.
Margaret W. Hilgartner was born in 1924 in Baltimore, Md. She attended Bryn Mawr College and received her M.D. from Duke University in 1951. Dr. Hilgartner moved to New York in 1955 for an internship at Bellevue Hospital, and followed with a pediatric residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology at New York Hospital.
It was at that time that she became interested in newborns with coagulation problems and the clinical care of children with hemophilia.
Along with Dr. William Arnold, Dr. Hilgartner developed the first classification of hemophilic arthropathy at the Hospital for Special Surgery. She and her colleagues, Drs. Louis Aledort and Dick Lipton, introduced self-infusion and comprehensive care to patients of all ages in New York City.
Her major research contributions were in the areas of complications with transfusion/infusion therapy, autoimmune responses, treatment of inhibitors and the infections complications of hepatitis and HIV.
Dr. Hilgartner served as the director of the Comprehensive Hemophilia Treatment Center from 1970 to 1995 and was the division chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at the Hospital from 1978 to 1992. She also served as president of the Children's Cancer and Blood Foundation from 1992 to 1995.
In 2007 Dr. Hilgartner was given a lifetime achievement award from the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Research Society.
Sarah Schapiro was just one of many patients whose lives were made better under Dr. Hilgartner's care.
"'Dr. H' taught me not to let my disease define who I am," said Schapiro, who noted that Dr. Hilgartner was her friend as well as her physician and that she attended both her Bat Mitzvah and wedding.
"She was a fierce advocate for the people she cared for and the people she worked with," Dr. DiMichele said.
Despite her lifelong dedication to medicine, Dr. Hilgartner had a fulfilling personal life marked by a love for travel, ballet, needlepoint and gardening.
She was also universally regarded as a highly fashionable dresser who often expressed herself through her clothing.
"I always knew she had an important meeting when she would wear her high heels," remembered Dr. James Bussel, director of the Platelet Disorders Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.
Dr. Patricia Giardina, chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and director of the Thalassemia Program, first met Dr. Hilgartner in July of 1969. She was an intern on her first pediatric surgery rotation and Dr. Hilgartner helped her with a particularly ill child.
"She guided me through the care of that infant just as she guided me through my entire career," Dr. Giardina said.
While Dr. Maria New, professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, remembered Dr. Hilgartner as "regal" and "always a model of fashion," Dr. Giardina revealed that her favorite lunch hardly matched her elegant appearance.
"She used to get so excited when they had turkey legs for lunch at the old New York Hospital Cafeteria," she said.
Dr. Milton Arky, Dr. Hilgartner's husband of 50 years, attended the memorial tribute, as did their three children and many family friends. Her youngest son, Jack Arky, played a song he wrote for his late mother the day after she died.
At a reception following the service, Les Lieberman, chairman of the Children's Cancer and Blood Foundation, and Ivan Obolensky, who sits on the foundation's board, paid further tribute to Dr. Hilgartner, one of the organization's founders and past president.
Dr. Gerald Loughlin, the Nancy C. Paduano Professor and chairman of pediatrics, closed the ceremonies with the announcement of the department's plans to establish a named chair within the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in honor of Dr. Hilgartner's accomplished life and career.