Catherine DeAngelis

Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, is the first woman and the first pediatrician to become editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). She has also edited several additional medical journals. Before assuming the editor's position at JAMA in 2000, DeAngelis was a professor and Vice Dean of Faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

DeAngelis was born and raised in northeastern Pennsylvania. She completed a three-year registered nurse program at the Scranton State General Hospital School of Nursing in 1960 and worked at the Columbia University Medical Center, then known as the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. DeAngelis wished to become a medical doctor, and her high school chemistry teacher both advised her to apply to college and supported her application. While attending Wilkes University, DeAngelis continued to work as a nurse, started a clinic, and pursued medical research in immunology. She then moved to the University of Pittsburgh, continuing her research and teaching and working in the library to put herself through medical school. She obtained her MD in 1969.

DeAngelis completed her residency in pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She then obtained a masters of public health degree at Harvard University while working in a local health clinic. During this time, DeAngelis observed problems related to health care access and cost and began to formulate possible solutions.

DeAngelis was able to implement some of her ideas for improving health care when she took her first faculty position at the Columbia College of Physicians. Her next appointment was at the University of Wisconsin. In 1978, DeAngelis returned to Johns Hopkins as the head of the general pediatrics and adolescent medicine division. In 1984, she was promoted to full professor, the twelfth woman to attain this distinction in the school's history. DeAngelis was the deputy head of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. She has served as an expert witness in court cases involving pediatric medical issues, including the high-profile Elizabeth Morgan case.

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