Biographies
/ Family
Dr. Irené Ferrer / Sister
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| Irene Ferrer in 1933 |
Dr. Ferrer in 1984 |
Dr. Irené Ferrer was a Nobel
Prize winning cardiologist,
who was part of the team that developed the cardiac catheter during World War
II. She was Mel Ferrer's older sister by two years, and like her younger brother was born in Elberon, New
Jersey, where the family vacationed throughout the summer months, but
she was raised in New York City, where the family lived. She remained in
New York City throughout her long and illustrious career.
Always close to her Mother, she
grew up as a New York debutante, making her debut in 1933. She went to
the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, graduated from Bryn Mawr
College and followed her elder bother into Columbia University's College
of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating in 1941. She completed her
internship at Columbia University's Bellevue Hospital in 1943 and
immediately afterward became the first woman Chief Resident in Medicine
at Bellevue. For the next two years, while at Bellevue, she was part of
the leading team of cardiologists developing the cardiac catheter, an
accomplishment that would eventually earn her the Nobel Prize in
Medicine. After two years at the New York University College of
Medicine, Dr. Ferrer returned to
Columbia where she remained for the rest of her remarkable career. At
Columbia she pioneered a project to immediately read
the electrocardiogram (EKG) making it more accessible for all doctors to
interpret. In addition to her work in research and education at
Columbia, she also held hospital appointments at Bellevue Hospital,
Presbyterian Hospital, the Roosevelt Hospital and was an attending
physician and cardiologist at French Hospital,. She also worked as a private
practitioner until the age of 80.
Dr. Ferrer never married, but she had a warm relationship with her students,
and as an advocate for women in medicine was responsible for assisting
many medical careers. Over the years she remained especially close to her elder
brother - Dr. José Maria Ferrer, Jr., who was the head of Columbia-Presbyterian
Medical Center. She died in her New York apartment on November 12, 2004.
Obituary for Dr. Irene Ferrer
