EDITORIAL

A tribute to our heritage

Photo courtesy R. Ricciardi As we honor our heritage in the 50th year of the founding of the first nurse practitioner (NP) program, we recognize the contributions of Dr. Henry K. Silver, co-founder of the first NP program, with an introduction of this pioneer collaborator who has so greatly influenced our profession. The introduction that follows was written by Richard Ricciardi, PhD, NP, FAAN, FAANP, who knew Dr. Silver personally and professionally; this was read at the June Fellows Induction Ceremony in New Orleans. There is another longer article about Dr. Silver by Dr. Ricciardi in the June 2015 issue of the FAANP Forum, the Fellows newsletter, available online at www.aanp.org under the Fellows Program tab. It is worth reading that article to get a glimpse of the mastery and passion of Dr. Silver in teaching and practice. The qualities he brought to teaching are those we aspire to as educators; the qualities he brought to the care of pediatric patients are those we should all aspire to no matter what our specialty might be. Charon A. Pierson, PhD, NP, FAAN, FAANP Dr. Henry K. Silver was born in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended medical school at the University of California at Berkeley, and completed a pediatric in-

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ternship at the University of California San Francisco and a pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. After serving early in his career on the faculty at the University of California Medical School and Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Silver joined the faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1957 where he served as Professor and Vice Chair of Pediatrics and as the Medical School’s Associate Dean of Admissions until his death in 1991. As Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado, Dr. Henry K. Silver partnered with Loretta C. Ford, EdD, Professor and Chair of Public Health Nursing, to start the first pediatric NP educational program. The program opened in 1965 at the University of Colorado’s Schools of Medicine and Nursing with Susan G. Stearly enrolled as the first student. From one to over 200,000 NPs in 50 years! In addition to being the co-founder of the NP role, in 1968 Dr. Silver was the founding director of the Child Health Associate/Physician Assistant (PA) Program at the University of Colorado—among the first PA programs (after Duke) and the first PA program that focused on children’s health. Dr. Silver was a recognized expert in general pediatrics, pediatric endocrinology and growth and development. Silver Syndrome, a syndrome of failure to grow, bears his name. Dr. Silver was one of the early pioneers in the recognition of child abuse and neglect. He and C. Henry Kemp published the first paper on the “battered child syndrome,” and he reported groundbreaking research about the effects of abuse and neglect on normal growth and development in children. Dr. Silver has published many scholarly papers and authored textbooks on pediatrics. Dr. Silver’s Handbook of Pediatrics, referred to as the “green bible,” was universally carried in the pocket or a fixture on the desk of the first generation of NPs. On this 50th anniversary of the NP, AANP honors the vision, pioneer spirit, courage, dedication, friendship, and work of Dr. Henry K. Silver and welcomes him as an Honorary Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Richard Ricciardi, PhD, NP, FAAN, FAANP

Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners 27 (2015) 350  C 2015 American Association of Nurse Practitioners

A tribute to our heritage.

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