Bela Schick

Schick, Bela

(1877–1967) pediatrician; born in Bolgar, Hungary. On the medical faculty at the University of Vienna, Austria (1902–23), he was a pioneer in studying childhood diseases such as scarlet fever, infantile diarrhea, diphtheria, and other diseases such as tuberculosis, serum sickness, and allergies, a new field of medicine. He developed what came to be known as the Schick test (1913), which determines a child's susceptibility to diphtheria. In 1923, he came to Mt. Sinai Hospital (New York City) to direct pediatrics, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1929. Recipient of the Howland Medal (1954), he helped found the American Academy of Pediatrics. In addition to various specialized works, he wrote Child Care Today (1933).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.