He was born in
Balatonbolgar, Hungary, and brought up in Graz, Austria,
where he attended medical school. In 1902 he joined the
Medicine Faculty of the University of Vienna where he
remained until 1923. Studying problems of immunity, he and a
colleague first coined the term 'allergy' as a clinical
entity. His discovery of a test for susceptibility to
diphtheria (“the Schick test”) made him world famous. From
1923 he directed the Pediatric Department of Mount Sinai
Hospital, New York. From 1936 he was also professor at
Columbia University. From 1950 to 1962 Schick headed the
Pediatric Department of Beth-El Hospital, Brooklyn, NY. His
later interests included the nutrition of the newborn and
feeding problems in children.
Bibliography
SCHICK,
Bela. Child care today. Pp. xvi, 320. Garden City, N.
Y.: Garden City publishing company, inc. [1934]
NOBLE, Iris. Physician to the children: Dr. Bela Schick.
Pp. 189. New York: J. Messner [1963]
GRONOWICZ, Antoni, Bela Schick and the world of children.
Pp. 216., illus. New York: Abelard-Schuman [1954]
Links
Bela Schick at Jewish Virtual Library
Bela Schick at Jewish-American Hall of Fame
