A little over a century ago, Cincinnati philanthropist and hospital benefactor Mary Emery helped to support the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine’s (UCCOM) Department of Pediatrics through a gift of $250,000, which equates to more than $3.3 million in today’s dollars. At her request, the department was officially named in honor of her longtime friend and former chair of the department from 1901-1920, Benjamin Knox Rachford, MD.
By 1926, UC and Children’s Hospital, today known as Cincinnati Children’s, would affiliate. The college’s pediatrics department would be comprised of the physicians and researchers at Cincinnati Children’s, who would hold UC academic appointments.
This year, the current B.K. Rachford Chair, Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, marked this milestone with several initiatives, including a virtual speaker series entitled Envisioning Our Future for Children, a one-day virtual symposium, and, as the culmination, a commemorative time capsule.
“Collectively, we have made important contributions to child health over the past century, in our missions in clinical care, research, education, and community/advocacy work,” says Cheng, who is also director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation and chief medical officer of Cincinnati Children’s.
PRESERVING OUR PRESENT DAY
Created for the Cincinnati Children’s and UCCOM community of 2122, the time capsule memorializes the collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights major accomplishments.
“It is also a momentous time in history as we are facing a pandemic and planning for the future amid many societal shifts,” Cheng adds. “It seemed like a good time to commemorate what we are going through now and honor our accomplishments.”
Led by Cincinnati Children’s Chief of Staff, Patty Manning, MD, nearly 40 groups from each partner institution helped select the time capsule’s contents, which include:
- COVID-19 items including Pfizer and Moderna vaccine vials, masks, clinical trial advertisements, building signage, informational videos, and more
- An official proclamation signed by Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley celebrating June 8, 2021 as “B.K. Rachford Department of Pediatrics Day”
- A 3D heart model
- An implantable cardioverter defibrillator
- A genotyping chip
- Children’s books
- The Research Foundation’s FY20 annual report and back issues of Research Horizons magazines
- A telehealth brochure, a Cincinnati Children’s fact sheet, and cards describing the center’s Child Life facility dogs
- Flash drives with photos and videos, commemorative pins, lanyards, and pens
- Copies of prominent research articles, award recognitions, organizational charts, divisional overviews, and more.
REFLECTING ON A PROUD PAST