The conventional history of paediatric cardiology teaches that it was Helen Taussig who founded the cardiac clinic for children at the Harriet Lane Home of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1930, when Edwards Park appointed her director of the clinic.1,2 However, the story was more complex than that, and involved the collaboration of institutions and the frustrations, doubts, and passions of both Park and Taussig. In this article, I explore the history in more depth through published works, and material preserved at the McGill University Archives, the Rockefeller Foundation Archives, and the Alan Chesney Medical Archives at Johns Hopkins.

The history of Helen Taussig is well known. Contrary to popular belief, however, she was not the first director of the pediatric cardiology clinic at the Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children. She was second director, succeeding Clifton B. Leech. Edwards A. Park, Chief of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, appointed Leech the first director of the pediatric cardiac clinic in the fall of 1928. In this vignette, I summarize the contributions of Clifton Leech to the development of paediatric cardiology.