Myron McCall Nichols: a Connecticut Yankee in a Southern court.

Abstract

Myron McCall Nichols (1921-2013) was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was raised and educated in the Northeast, and by sheer chance of a military experience found his way to one of the premier pediatric programs developing in the country at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) under the leadership of Charles W. Daeschner (1920-2009). Dr. Nichols, affectionately known as Dr. Nick, was a scholar, musician, athlete, and showman always on stage to make a point to students, residents, and faculty colleagues or to generate a laugh from his poetry and musical antics. A self-taught neonatologist before there was such a board-certified designation, he developed what there was of an intensive care nursery at UTMB and offered observations through his scholarship on the burgeoning literature of the care of the neonate. This essay details how a Connecticut Yankee found himself deposited in the presence of a very Southern group of colleagues and his sure-footed adaptation to his surroundings.