This Baylor alumna helped define the field of pediatric cardiology

It all started in 1942, when Mary Allen English (BA ’42), a young Baylor graduate, stepped into the halls of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. At the time, pediatric cardiology wasn’t a specialty; in fact, it barely existed. But under the mentorship of groundbreaking physician Helen Taussig, English finished first in her class and helped define an entirely new field. (She also married a classmate on her graduation day, becoming Dr. Mary Allen Engle.)

By the 1950s, Engle was leading the charge to treat congenital heart defects in infants — without invasive surgery. After completing fellowships at both Johns Hopkins and Cornell, she joined the faculty at New York Hospital–Cornell University Medical Center, where she founded and led the Division of Pediatric Cardiology. The innovations coming out of her lab would save countless children’s lives.

But Engle didn’t stop at one division. She turned her attention to the nation’s medical institutions, helping the American Academy of Pediatrics form the first official subspecialty section in pediatric cardiology in 1957. Four years later, she helped develop board certifications and the rigorous training programs that still shape the field today.

By the 1960s, her reputation had gone global, and in 1964, she became one of just 17 U.S. physicians invited to join the Association of European Paediatric Cardiologists — a rare honor in a still-male-dominated field.

She would go on to lecture in 83 countries, building programs in underserved areas and changing outcomes for children around the world. In Greece, she helped launch the country’s first program for infants with congenital heart disease — and in return, was named the Stavros S. Niarchos Professor of Pediatric Cardiology at Cornell.

When Engle retired in 1992, Cornell renamed the department she built from the ground up: the Dr. Mary Allen Engle Division of Pediatric Cardiology. Even after retirement, she continued to publish groundbreaking research and speak at national conferences, never ceasing in her mission to heal and to teach.

When she passed away in 2008 at age 86, both The New York Times and Washington Post ran obituaries celebrating her life.

From Waco to the world stage, Dr. Mary Allen English Engle didn’t just witness the birth of a new medical specialty — she helped deliver it.

Sic ’em, Dr. Engle!