Dr. Leo M. Taran, M.D., from the Chironian, July 1958, Vol. 20, No. 2
Dr. Leo M. Taran, M.D. (1902-1959), was an internationally famous cardiologist whose work focused on improving the lives and cardiac health of children. One of his most famous endeavors was establishing a cardiac clinic for children with rheumatic heart disease.
Birth: July 20, 1902, Russia
Death: September 11, 1959, Great Neck, New York
Education:
At New York Medical College:
Dr. Leo Taran, M.D. (1902-1959), was a celebrated cardiologist who dedicated his work to improving the cardiac health of children. He was internationally recognized for his research and clinical advancements.
Born in Russia in 1902, Dr. Taran attended high school in Rochester, New York before attending Harvard College and Medical School. After his graduation, he established himself as a capable cardiologist and went on to conduct extensive work in pediatric cardiology.
One of his most notable endeavors is his contribution to the founding and success of the St. Francis Sanatorium for Cardiac Children in Roslyn, New York. He served as medical director to the clinic where they focused on the health of children with rheumatic cardiac disease. The team led by Taran developed extensive treatments that significantly decreased the mortality rate for children with rheumatic cardiac disease and even resulted in cured cases. While working with St. Francis, Dr. Taran also developed a new type of operating table, established the recording of surgical procedures for educational materials, and changed the standard surgical scrubs from white to green to allow less strain on the eyes of surgeons.
In 1956, he took his expertise to the New York Medical College and Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital. He worked as an Associate professor of Pediatrics from 1956 until his death in 1959, and he worked as an attending pediatrician for visiting staff and chief of the Outpatient Cardiac Clinic at Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital in 1956 and 1957. In 1958, he was the first Director of the Cardiopulmonary Program at the New York Medical College. Despite extensive plans for his leadership of the program, his work was cut short by his sudden death in 1959.
Following his sudden death from a heart attack on September 11, 1959, Dr. Taran’s wife and daughters coordinated an endowment for the Cardiopulmonary Program. This endowment was intended to fund a library in the clinic, to be named after Dr. Taran. While construction of the library never took place, Dr. Taran’s extensive legacy in cardiology remains.
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