IN REMEMBRANCE
BILLY F. ANDREWS, MD
September 22, 1932 – March 15, 2019
D
r. Billy Andrews was a driving force in American pediatrics
and neonatology for over 50 years. For 53 years, he was my
teacher, my chairman, my mentor and my friend. I shall
miss him greatly. over 200 articles and abstracts, eight
books, and innumerable lectures. He
was known and beloved all over the
world.
Dr. Andrews was born in Graham, N.C., attended Wake
Forest University (1953) and Duke University School of
Medicine (1957). He served in the US Army (1957-1964);
he did his pediatric residency at Walter Reed and was Chief of Pe-
diatrics at Rodriguez US Army Hospital in Puerto Rico. Dr. Andrews loved medical stu-
dents. Starting in 1966, he distributed
his statement The Responsibility of the
Physician to each graduating medical
school class along with his interna-
tionally recognized Children’s Bill of
Rights written in 1968.
Dr. Andrews came to the University of Louisville in 1964, and
in 1969, he was appointed Chairman of Pediatrics, becoming one
of the youngest pediatric chairs ever. He served in that role for 23
years (one of the longest ever).
Dr. Andrews was a founding father of the new discipline of
neonatology. He established a still-active fellowship program in
neonatology, doctor-nurse training courses, and is credited with
numerous inventions including the infant oxygen box (Billy Box),
the open infant warmer and the transport isolette. While at the old
Louisville General Hospital, he built the very first modern neonatal
intensive care unit in Kentucky. His work in infant nutrition resulted
in numerous special formulas.
Dr. Andrews laid the foundation of our modern department of
pediatrics. A few of us have gotten to water the seeds he laid down.
He was instrumental in the University of Louisville’s partnership with
Norton Healthcare and Kosair Charities in achieving the world class
children’s hospital we have today. He was innovative and visionary,
and he helped found the Child Evaluation Center (now known as the
Weisskopf Center), the Children and Youth Project for High Risk
Infant and Children, and the Area Health Education Program. He
was also instrumental in achieving newborn insurance in Kentucky.
Dr. Andrews’ work in nutrition and fetal growth resulted in
“And that we fully realize that the
level of civilization attained by any society will be determined by the
attention it has paid to the welfare of its infants and children.”
Dr. Andrews stepped down as Pediatric Chair in 1993, and it
was an honor to succeed him. In 1993, the Billy F. Andrews Endowed
Chair of Pediatrics was established to honor his work and, in 2002, the
annual Billy F. Andrews Lectureship in Neonatology was established.
Later in his career, Dr. Andrews involved himself in poetry, ethics
and medical history. For eight years, he served as Fellow in Medical
History, Ethics and Humanities at Green Templeton College, Oxford.
He published two books of verse edited by his wife, Faye: Ideals
and Inspirations which honors many of the important women in his
life, and Words to Live By, which honors many of the important men.
Dr. Andrews retired in 2015 and spent the last years of his
life with Faye, his three children Billy, Ann and David, and four
grandchildren.
He was a kind, gentle, unselfish and brilliant man, and he will
be greatly missed.
- Larry N. Cook, MD
Dr. Andrews was a GLMS member for 51 years.
JUNE 2019
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