Did you know: NICU named for physician who championed newborn care
Wiseman, a U.S. Navy veteran and Harvard Medical School graduate, left private practice to become director of the department of pediatrics and director of medical education at then-Mobile General Hospital. When the University of South Alabama College of Medicine was created, he joined the faculty and founded the neonatal intensive care unit, one of the first in the country.
The neonatal intensive care unit at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital is named for Dr. Hollis Jay Wiseman Sr. (1927-2014), a Mobile physician who championed efforts to reduce infant mortality in Alabama. Wiseman, a U.S. Navy veteran and Harvard Medical School graduate, left private practice to become director of the department of pediatrics and director of medical education at then-Mobile General Hospital. When the University of South Alabama College of Medicine was created, he joined the faculty and founded the neonatal intensive care unit, one of the first in the country.
While an intern, Wiseman worked on the front lines of the polio epidemic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He and his wife, Teko Wiseman, formed Alabamians Behind Local Education to support the peaceful integration of schools in Mobile.
During his career, he served as chair of the Fetus and Newborn Committee, Alabama Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics; chair of the Perinatal Advisory Committee, state and regional; chair of the Perinatal Social Marketing Committee, state of Alabama, Department of Public Health; chair of the Alabama State Governor’s Task Force on Infant Mortality; and chair of the Subcommittee of the state Medicaid Advisory Board and “Healthy Beginnings.”
The NICU at Children’s & Women’s Hospital was renamed the Hollis J. Wiseman Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at a ceremony in 2003.
Each year, the College of Medicine presents the Hollis J. Wiseman Award for Excellence in Pediatrics to a graduate who best exemplifies his qualities during pediatric clerkship.
