Editing Virginia Apgar (section)

== Early life and education ==

The youngest of three children, Apgar was born and raised in [[Westfield, New Jersey]], the daughter of Helen May (Clarke) and [[Charles E. Apgar|Charles Emory Apgar]].<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last=Calmes|first=Selma H|date=May 2015|title=Dr. Virginia Apgar and the Apgar Score: How the Apgar Score Came to Be|journal=Anesthesia & Analgesia|volume=120|issue=5|pages=1060–4|doi=10.1213/ANE.0000000000000659|pmid=25899273|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00sich | url-access=registration | page=27 |title = Notable American Women: The Modern Period : A Biographical Dictionary| publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn = 9780674627338|last1 = Sicherman|first1 = Barbara|last2 = Green|first2 = Carol Hurd|year = 1980}}</ref> Her father was a business executive and amateur astronomer whose [[amateur radio]] work exposed an espionage ring during World War I.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |title=Charles E. Apgar, Radio Expert, 86; Jersey 'Ham' Operator Dies – Recorded Code Messages From Sayville Station in 1915 |work=New York Times |date=August 19, 1950 |page=12 |quote=Charles E. Apgar, a 'ham' radio operator who recorded code messages during World War I from a German station at Sayville, L.I., which proved to be tips to German submarines on the movements of neutral ships and caused the Government to seize the station...}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/CP/p-nid/178|title=The Virginia Apgar Papers|date=September 21, 2017|website=U.S. National Library of Medicine: National Institutes of Health|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> Her older brother died early from [[tuberculosis]], and her other brother had a chronic illness.<ref name=":2" /> She graduated from [[Westfield High School (New Jersey)|Westfield High School]] in 1925, knowing that she wanted to be a doctor from a young age.<ref name="papers">{{cite web|url = https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CP/Views/Exhibit/narrative/biographical.html|title = The Virginia Apgar Papers: biographical information|access-date = May 17, 2014|website = Profiles in Science|publisher = National Library of Medicine}}</ref>

[[File:Virginia Apgar playing her violin.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Virginia Apgar standing in a field and playing the violin in 1920]]
Apgar graduated from [[Mount Holyoke College]] in 1929, where she studied zoology with minors in physiology and chemistry.<ref name="amschler">{{Cite book|last=Amschler|first=Denise|title=Women in World History: A biographical encyclopedia|title-link=Women in World History|publisher=Gale|year=1999|isbn=0-7876-4071-9|editor-last=Commire|editor-first=Anne|pages=415–418|chapter=Apgar, Virginia (1909-1974)}}</ref> In 1933, she graduated fourth in her class from [[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons]] (P&S)<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_12.html|title=Changing the Face of Medicine: Virginia Apgar|date=June 3, 2015|website=U.S. National Library of Medicine|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> and completed a residency in surgery at P&S in 1937.

She was discouraged by [[Allen Whipple]], the chairman of surgery at [[NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital|Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center]], from continuing her career as a surgeon because he had seen many women attempt to be successful surgeons and ultimately fail. He instead encouraged her to practice anesthesiology because he felt that advancements in anesthesia were needed to further advance surgery and felt that she had the "energy and ability" to make a significant contribution.<ref name=":2" /> Deciding to continue her career in anesthesiology, she trained for six months under [[Ralph M. Waters|Ralph Waters]] at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], where he had established the first anesthesiology department in the United States.<ref name=":2" /> In a 1937 photograph of Waters and his residents, she is the only woman among Waters and fifteen other men. She then studied for a further six months under [[Emery Andrew Rovenstine|Emery Rovenstine]] in New York at [[Bellevue Hospital]].<ref name=":2" /> She received a certification as an anesthesiologist in 1937,<ref name="amschler" /> and returned to P&S in 1938 as director of the newly formed division of anesthesia.<ref name="changingface">{{cite web|url = https://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_12.html|title = Dr. Virginia Apgar|access-date = May 23, 2014|website = Changing the Face of Medicine|publisher = National Library of Medicine}}</ref> She later received a master's degree in [[Master of Public Health|public health]] at [[Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health]], graduating in 1959.<ref name=":2" />