Irene Solomon 1932-2022
Irene Solomon (1932-2022) received her undergraduate degree from Radcliffe College and her medical degree from Harvard University (1958). She trained in pediatric endocrinology with Robert Blizzard and Orville Green in Ohio (1959-1962), then at Johns Hopkins (1963-1964). She completed pediatric residency and an additional year of fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She was among the first members of the Pediatric Endocrine Society when it was founded in 1971. Dr. Solomon practiced as a pediatric endocrinologist at Kaiser Oakland for ~30 years, including service as pediatric residency program director (1978-1985). She was honored as House Staff Best Teacher 3 times. Former trainee and PES colleague Yvette Fan recalls:
“If you were on service with Dr. Solomon, you had to be prepared! We residents were all afraid to see her with her Kaiser roll hair bun and small black bag marching to the ward. The nurses would scramble making sure all the patients had their growth curves and vital signs available. Routinely precepting interns in July, she taught a generation of residents how to think logically, to be staunch patient advocates, and a few of us to become pediatric endocrinologists. She made all of us who interacted with her want to be better doctors. As my mentor, she always managed to take my phone calls when I was confused with patients, take me out to lunch at the pediatric endocrine meetings, and helped say no to injustices and inequities. She will be missed by all of us.”
For more information about Irene Solomon’s life: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sfgate/name/irene-solomon-obituary?id=35407900