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COLLECTION Identifier: H MS c477

Marie C. McCormick papers

Overview

The Marie C. McCormick papers, 1956-2016 (inclusive), 1968-2009 (bulk), are the product of McCormick’s research, teaching, administrative, and publishing activities during the course of her career. The papers are arranged in five series: I. Research Records, 1970-2016; II. Harvard School of Public Health Teaching and Administrative Records, 1985-2014; III. Writings and Publications, 1971-2013; and IV. Collected Printed Material, 1956-2005.

Dates

  • Creation: 1956-2019 (inclusive)
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1968-2009

Creator

Language of Materials

The papers are predominantly in English. The collection also contains occasional papers in French, Japanese, and Spanish.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Some restrictions apply (see below).

Access requires advance notice. Contact Public Services for further information.

Access to longitudinal patient information is restricted for 80 years from the most recently dated records in Series IC. These restrictions appear in Series I and III. Access to student, personnel, and personally-identifying information is restricted for 80 years from the date of record creation. These restrictions appear in Series I, II, and III. Access to Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston institutional records is restricted for 50 years from the date of record creation. These restrictions appear in Series I, II, and III. Consult Public Services for further information.

Access to electronic records is premised on the availability of a computer station, requisite software, and/or the ability of Public Services staff to review and/or print out records of interest in advance of an on-site visit. Please note: the records contain 5.25" floppy disks that have not been surveyed for content, and are restricted to access until such a time as they can be surveyed. Once surveyed, electronic media will be restricted by the media's content, or per the restrictions assigned to the media’s original folders.

Conditions Governing Use

The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in the collection. Researchers are responsible for identifying and contacting any third-party copyright holders for permission to reproduce or publish. For more information on the Center's use, publication, and reproduction policies, view our Reproductions and Use Policy.

Extent

17.7 cubic feet (18 records center cartons, 1 flat oversize box, and 1 index card box.)
2.55 Gigabytes (electronic records on network storage)
1.19 Gigabytes (Unprocessed digital files on network storage)
1 cubic feet (1 records center carton, unprocessed)

The Marie C. McCormick papers, 1956-2016 (inclusive), 1968-2009 (bulk), are the product of McCormick’s research, teaching, administrative, and publishing activities during the course of her career. The papers are arranged in four series: I. Research Records, 1970-2016; II. Harvard School of Public Health Teaching and Administrative Records, 1985-2014; III. Writings and Publications, 1971-2013; and IV. Collected Printed Material, 1956-2005.

Research records (Series I) constitute the bulk of the collection, and consist primarily of administrative records (reports, grant records, Institutional Review Board records, and correspondence) and regulatory records (survey instruments, protocols, methodologies, and codebooks), generated during three studies related to the outcomes of very low birthweight and high-risk infants. These studies include: phases I-IV of the Infant Health and Development Program (concerning the long-term effects of early childhood educational intervention on the outcomes of low-birthweight infants); the Evaluation of Regionalized Networks for High Risk Pregnancy Care study (focusing on the reduction of infant mortality and birth defects through prenatal care); and the Long Term Outcomes of Very Low Birthweight Infants study. Series I also include electronic records generated primarily during phase IV of the Infant Health and Development Program. Electronic records include: administrative records (IRB, meeting, financial, reporting, and presentation records); regulatory records (survey and interview instruments, codebooks, protocols, and methodologies); coded, summarized, and analyzed research data; manuscript drafts and bibliographies; and emails and related attachments concerning research administration, publishing, and research results. Frequent research topics include: behavior; cognitive ability; health and nutrition; peer and family relationships; destructive and self-destructive behavior; and maternal parenting philosophy.

Harvard School of Public Health Teaching and Administrative Records (Series II) include: grant applications, budgets, reports, and meeting minutes for graduate training grants in maternal and child health; syllabi, student handouts, course readings, and lectures for courses related to maternal and child health policy and research; and departmental accreditation records by the Council on Education for Public Health. Writings and Publications (Series III) consist of manuscript drafts and scientific paper reprints related numerous topics in infant and child health, including: the Infant Health and Development Program; prenatal and neonatal care; family planning; infant mortality; epidemiology; and regionalization of care. Writings and publications also include occasional raw, coded, and analyzed research data, protocols, and codebooks. The papers also include collected publications, bibliographies, and reading notes related to a variety of McCormick’s research and teaching interests (Series IV).

The papers include a number of access restriction types to protect personal and institutional privacy. These types include: 80-year restrictions from the most recently dated records in Series I for longitudinal patient information; 80-year restrictions from the date of record creation for personnel records and student records, and records with a high density of personally-identifying information; and 50-year restrictions from the date of record creation for institutional records of Harvard University and its affiliates. The collection also includes electronic records for which access is premised on the availability of a computer station, requisite software, and/or the availability of Public Services staff to review and/or print out records of interest in advance of an on-site visit.

The papers are predominantly in English. The collection also contains occasional papers in French, Japanese, and Spanish.

Biographical Note

Marie C. McCormick (born 1946), B.A., 1967, Emmanuel College, Boston, Massachusetts; M.D., 1971, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, Maryland; Sc.D., 1978, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, was as of 2017 the Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (formerly the Harvard School of Public Health); Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; and Senior Associate for Academic Affairs, Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, all in Boston, Massachusetts. Her research primarily focused on epidemiology and health services, particularly in relation to infant mortality and the outcomes of very low birthweight and otherwise high-risk neonates.

Marie C. McCormick was born in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1946 Clare B. Keleher, a homemaker, and Richard J. McCormick Jr., a lawyer. The family soon moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts, where McCormick grew up. She received a B.A. from Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts in 1967, followed by an M.D. in 1971 and a Sc. D. in 1978, both from Johns Hopkins Medical School. McCormick completed her internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1971-1975), and a research fellowship in both the Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Department of Health Services Administration, John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (1972-1975). She held various clinical and academic appointments at the University of Illinois, Chicago (1975-1976), Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (1976-1981), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1981-1987), and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia (1981-1987), before moving to Boston, Massachusetts in 1987. In Boston, she served as: Associate Pediatrician, Newborn Medicine (1987-2011) and Senior Research Associate (2011-) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Senior Associate in Medicine (Newborn) (1987-2015) and Associate Scientific Staff (2015-) at Children’s Hospital; and Senior Associate in Pediatrics (1987-2015), Senior Associate for Academic Affairs, Department of Neonatology (2006-), and Honorary Staff (2015-) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (formerly Beth Israel Hospital). Her academic appointments in Boston include: Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Joint Program in Neonatology (1987-1992), and Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Newborn Medicine (1992-), Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Affiliate Member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University; Professor and Chair of the Department of Maternal and Child Health (1991-2003), the Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health (1996-), Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (1996-) and Director of the Maternal & Child Health Concentration (2003-) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. While at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she has also served on a number of academic boards and committees, including: the Department of Maternal and Child Health Administrative Board; the Interdepartmental Concentration of Maternal and Child Health (Director); the MPH Steering Committee; the Department of Society, Human Development and Health Executive Committee; the Interdepartmental Concentration of MCH/Children, Youth and Families (Director); and the Women and Health Initiative Steering Committee.

McCormick served on all four phases of the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), and was the Principal Investigator of Phase IV. The program was the largest longitudinal multisite randomized trials of early childhood educational intervention for low birth weight and high-risk infants. Further, she served as a senior investigator on the federal Healthy Start Program and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Perinatal Regionalization Program. She was the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2004 David Rall Medal for exceptional service, the 2006 Douglas K. Richardson Award for Perinatal and Pediatric Healthcare Research, and the 2008 Henry Ingersoll Bowditch Award for Excellence in Public Health, of the Massachusetts Medical Society. In 2006, she was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Emmanuel College. Among many other professional service appointments, she served as Chair of the Institute of Medicine’s (now National Academy of Medicine) Committee of the Health Effects of Marijuana (-2017), and Immunization Safety Review Committee (2000-2004), for which she testified twice before the United States House of Representatives on the lack of evidence linking vaccinations with autism (2001 and 2004). In 1996, she also testified before the United States Senate on the National Healthy Start Initiative. She was also a long-standing member of the Academic Pediatric Association (1977-), holding various leadership positions, including her current role as the senior associate editor of the association’s journal, Academic Pediatrics. As of 2017, she published 12 books and monographs, including Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism (2004), and Prenatal Care: Effectiveness and Implementation (1999) with Joanna E. Siegel, as well as over 280 scientific papers, reviews, editorials, reports, and abstracts.

McCormick married Robert J. Blendon, as of 2017 the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis and Senior Associate Dean for Policy Translation and Leadership Development in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in 1977.

Series and Subseries in the Collection

  1. I. Research Records, 1970-2016
  2. I.A. High Risk Pregnancy and Very Low Birthweight Studies Records, 1970-1990
  3. I.B. Infant Health and Development Program, Phases I-III Records, 1984-2002
  4. I.C. Infant Health and Development Program, Phase IV Paper Records, 1990-2009
  5. I.D. Infant Health and Development Program, Phase IV Electronic Records, 2000-2016
  6. I.D.1. Administrative, Research, and Publishing Records, 2000-2015
  7. I.D.2. Correspondence, 2009-2016
  8. I.D.3. Research Data, 2003
  9. I.D.4. IRB Consent Form Drafts, 2003
  10. II. Harvard School of Public Health Teaching and Administrative Records, 1985-2014
  11. II.A. Training Grants Records, 1989-2009
  12. II.B. Course Records, 1997-2014
  13. II.C. Department of Maternal and Child Health Administrative Records, 1985-2007
  14. III. Writings and Publications, 1971-2013
  15. IV. Collected Printed Material, 1956-2005

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Marie C. McCormick papers were gifted to the Center by Marie C. McCormick, 2016 May.

  1. Accession number 2016-118. McCormick, Marie C. 2016 March 02.
  2. Accession number 2016-127. McCormick, Marie C. 2016 April 06.
  3. Accession number 2017-025. McCormick, Marie C. 2016 August 01.

Related Datasets at the Health and Medical Care Archive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, operated by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan

  1. Infant Health and Development Program: Enhancing the Outcomes of Low Birth Weight, Premature Infants in the United States, 1985-1988. ICPSR 9795.
  2. Infant Health and Development Program, Phase IV, 2001-2004 [United States]. ICPSR 23580.

Processing Information

Processed by Amber LaFountain, with the processing assistance of Sarah Bush, 2017 March.

Processing staff in the Center for the History of Medicine analyzed, arranged, and described the papers, and created a finding aid to improve access. Items were rehoused and, where necessary, photocopied to acid-free paper. Folder titles were transcribed from the originals when available; titles supplied by the processing staff appear in brackets only on the physical folders. Processing staff discarded or returned duplicate records and records that did not meet the collection policy of the Center for the History of Medicine.

Where possible, all electronic media and records (as found in Series I, II, III, and V) were imaged using Access Data’s FTK and a Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device. Records were then transferred to secure storage. Using FTK, records were screened for explicit and encrypted files, and use copies were extracted. Files that could be opened were sampled for content, however researchers should be aware that not every file in the collection could be opened and assessed. Files for which specific software was needed, but not available to staff at the time of processing, were not reviewed. Regardless of copy status, all original media have been retained.

Where possible, all electronic media and records (as found in Series I, II, III, and V) were imaged using Access Data’s FTK and a Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device. Records were then transferred to secure storage. Using FTK, records were screened for explicit and encrypted files, and use copies were extracted. Files that could be opened were sampled for content, however researchers should be aware that not every file in the collection could be opened and assessed. Files for which specific software was needed, but not available to staff at the time of processing, were not reviewed. Regardless of copy status, all original media have been retained.

Title
McCormick, Marie C. papers, 1956-2016 (inclusive), 1968-2009 (bulk): Finding Aid.
Status
completed
Author
Sarah Bush
Date
2017-03-28
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
Sponsor
The Marie C. McCormick papers were processed with grant funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as awarded and administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in 2017.
EAD ID
med00244

Repository Details

Part of the Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine) Repository

The Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine is one of the world's leading resources for the study of the history of health and medicine. Our mission is to enable the history of medicine and public health to inform healthcare, the health sciences, and the societies in which they are embedded.

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