{"id":673152,"date":"2025-10-16T12:07:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=673152"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:20:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:20:47","slug":"ruth-lawrence-obituary-trailblazer-in-lactation-medicine-child-health-673152","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ruth-lawrence-obituary-trailblazer-in-lactation-medicine-child-health-673152\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruth Lawrence, pioneering pediatrician and breastfeeding advocate, dies at 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her seven-decade career at the University of Rochester reshaped how clinicians support mothers and infants.<\/h2>\n
\"Vertical
Ruth Lawrence (University of Rochester Medical Center photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ruth Lawrence \u201949M (MD), a pediatrician and internationally recognized leader in breastfeeding science, died in October. She was 101.<\/p>\n

During more than 70 years at the University of Rochester<\/a> Medical Center<\/a>, Lawrence helped transform breastfeeding from a marginal topic into a respected field of clinical practice and research. She was the founding director of the Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Study Center and author of Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession<\/em>, the definitive physician\u2019s reference first published in 1979 and now in its ninth edition.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Lawrence\u2019s work reshaped how we understand and support infant feeding, and her legacy lives on in every clinician, nurse, and researcher who carries forward her vision,\u201d says Kathy Parrinello, president and CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n

A graduate of Antioch College and one of few women admitted to medical school in the 1940s, Lawrence earned a medical degree from URochester in 1949 alongside classmate Robert Lawrence \u201949M (MD), whom she married the following year<\/span>. After becoming Yale University\u2019s first female intern, she returned to Rochester to direct the well-baby and preemie nurseries at Strong Memorial Hospital. In 1958, she founded the region\u2019s Poison Control and Drug Information Center\u2014only the second in the nation at the time.<\/p>\n

Over her distinguished career, Lawrence authored more than 200 research papers, helped establish URochester\u2019s neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, and mentored generations of clinicians. In 2022, the Medical Center created the Division of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine\u2014one of the first such divisions in the world\u2014in recognition of her lifelong work.<\/p>\n

\"Black
Ruth Lawrence at Strong Memorial Hospital. (University of Rochester Medical Center photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her many honors include the AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award, the Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Macy-Gy\u00f6rgy Award from the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation.<\/p>\n