Anne Pappenheimer Forbes personal and professional papers

Anne Pappenheimer Forbes (1911-1992) was Clinical Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. While at Massachusetts General Hospital, Forbes collaborated with Fuller Albright and contributed to the discovery of several diseases including Forbes-Albright Syndrome, a dysfunction of the pituitary gland, which bears their names. Much of her research focused on Cushing’s, Turner’s, and Klinefelter’s syndromes, as well as calcium and phosphorous metabolism, amenorrhea, kidney stones, bone diseases, estrogen use, parathyroid glands, and the link between osteoporosis and menopause. Her ovarian research contributed to the study of reproductive endocrinology within internal medicine rather than obstetrics, and the development of the Ovarian Dysfunction Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Forbes was born on 11 November 1911 in New York City. She received an A.B. from Radcliffe College in 1932 and an M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1936. After Forbes completed a two-year internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., she started a fellowship in Albright’s endocrinology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1939, beginning a 40-year career with Harvard Medical School.

Forbes held several appointments at Harvard Medical School between 1939 and 1978, culminating in her appointment as clinical professor in medicine in 1977. Forbes was named assistant in medicine in 1948, and later served as instructor in medicine from 1953 to 1959; clinical associate in medicine, from 1959 to1962; assistant clinical professor in medicine, from 1962 to1971; associate clinical professor in medicine, from 1971 to 1977; clinical professor in medicine, from 1977 to 1978; and clinical professor in medicine emerita in 1978. Forbes was the second of three siblings to be named to the Harvard faculty; she followed older brother Alwin Pappenheimer, professor of biology, emeritus, to Harvard and preceded brother John Pappenheimer, Harvard Medical School Higginson Professor of Physiology, Emeritus.

Forbes was appointed Albright’s permanent research associate at Massachusetts General Hospital during World War II. She held several appointments at the institution during her career, culminating in her appointment as physician in 1976. Forbes was named assistant physician in 1951, and later served as associate physician from 1965 to 1976, and physician from 1976 to 1978. Much of her endocrine research focused on international medicine including population growth, a topic that she lectured on as a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and implanted birth control. She collaborated with international colleagues and was an active participant in international endocrine congresses. From 1954 to 1955, Forbes worked in several hospitals in Paris studying male testicular deficiencies. She completed a two-year sabbatical from Massachusetts General Hospital to teach endocrinology courses at the Pahlavi Medical School in Shiraz, Iran, and examine skeletal maturation of Iranian children from 1967 to 1969. She published Skeletal Maturation of Children in Shiraz, Iran detailing her data and x-rays collected from Iranian children.

Aside from her research activities, Forbes taught postgraduate courses in obstetrics and gynecology from the late 1950s through the 1970s in the Harvard Medical School Department of Continuing Education. She also taught sections of Harvard Medical School pathophysiology courses and electives, and participated in forums, roundtable discussions, and conferences pertaining to her research. Forbes also taught postgraduate courses in pediatric endocrinology, and lectured on endocrine diseases in the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing.

Forbes published over 100 articles, abstracts, monograph chapters, and editorials during her career. Topics included pseudohypoparathyroidism, gonadal dysgenesis, ovaries, Cushing’s, Klinefelter’s and Turner’s syndromes; amenorrhea, dermatoglyphics, menopause, thyroiditis, and bone diseases. Forbes was one of the first women to become a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the most distinguished research organization for clinical investigators in 1950.

Forbes died of Hodgkin's Disease on 25 February 1992.