Leila Denmark

Leila Alice Denmark (née Daughtry; February 1, 1898 – April 1, 2012) was an American pediatrician in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the world's oldest practicing pediatrician until her retirement in May 2001 at the age of 103, after 73 years. She was a supercentenarian, living to the age of 114 years, 60 days.

A co-developer of the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine, Denmark was one of the few supercentenarians in history to gain prominence in life for reasons other than longevity. She started treating children in 1928. By the time of her retirement, Denmark was treating grandchildren and great-grandchildren of her first patients.

Born in Portal, Georgia, Leila Alice Daughtry was the third of 12 children of Elerbee and Alice Cornelia (Hendricks) Daughtry. Her paternal uncle was Missouri Congressman James Alexander Daugherty. She was the older sister of Clyde Daughtry, who is known for shooting the only known authentic color footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Denmark attended Tift College where she trained to be a teacher, and studied Chemistry and Physics at Mercer University. She accepted a marriage proposal from John Eustace Denmark, who was soon deployed to Java, Dutch Indies by the U.S. Department of State. Because wives were forbidden from joining, Denmark decided to attend medical school. She graduated from Medical College of Georgia in 1928 as the only woman in her class, and the school's third woman ever to graduate with a medical degree.

John Eustace Denmark returned from overseas and they married on June 11, 1928, soon after she received her medical diploma. They had one child together, Mary, on November 19, 1930. Leila Denmark was a registered Democrat and a practicing Baptist.

Denmark accepted a residency at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and the couple moved to the Virginia-Highland neighborhood with her husband. Denmark was the first physician on staff of Henrietta Egleston Hospital, a pediatric hospital, opened on the Emory University campus. She also developed a private practice, seeing patients in a clinic at her home.

Denmark devoted a substantial amount of her professional time to charity. By 1935, she was a listed staff member at the Presbyterian Church Baby Clinic in Atlanta, while serving at Grady and maintaining a private practice. She conducted research from the 1930s, and especially from 1933 to 1944 in the diagnosis, treatment, and immunization of whooping cough, then frequently fatal to children. Denmark is credited as co-developer of the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine, with support from Eli Lilly and Company, and Emory University. For this, she was awarded the Fisher Prize in 1935.

Denmark discussed her views on child-rearing in her book Every Child Should Have a Chance (1971). She was among the first doctors to object to adults smoking cigarettes around children, and to pregnant women using drugs.^{[citation needed]} She believed that drinking cow's milk is harmful. She also recommended that children and adults should eat fresh fruit rather than drinking fruit juices, and drink only water. On March 9, 2000, the Georgia General Assembly honored Denmark in a resolution.