Katherine Bain was a doctor from St. Louis, Missouri, who was known for her work to improve children’s health. Through her work with the US Children’s Bureau and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Bain became a well-known expert on public health and pediatrics, the field of medicine that focuses on children.

Katherine Bain was born September 1, 1897, in St. Louis to Patterson Bain and Ella Ustick. Her father worked in manufacturing and was the president of the Jack Frost Baking Powder Company. Her mother was a graduate of Lindenwood College in nearby St. Charles, Missouri. Growing up in St. Louis, Katherine Bain went to local schools and graduated from Soldan High School in 1916. While at Soldan, she was involved in the Girls’ Athletic Association, Botanical Club, College Club, and Dramatic Club.

After graduating from Soldan, Bain enrolled at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. In 1918 she transferred to the University of Missouri to be closer to her family, which had moved to a farm near McBaine, Missouri, a few miles from the university. In an interview later in life about her time at MU, Bain remembered how difficult it was to drive the family’s Ford Model T car on gravel roads from the farm to campus each day for classes. While taking courses, she worked at the university as a lab assistant for the Department of Zoology. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1920.

While she was in college, Bain became interested in medicine. She decided to enroll in medical school at the University of Missouri, splitting her time between continuing to work as a lab assistant in zoology and taking classes.

When her family moved back to St. Louis, she got a job at the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital and completed medical school at Washington University. She graduated from Washington University’s School of Medicine in 1925, the only woman in her class. A member of the Nu Sigma Phi honor fraternity, she served as secretary-treasurer of the senior medical class.

Bain then moved to California to be an intern at the San Francisco Children’s Hospital, but she returned to St. Louis to complete her year of medical residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 1926. Interested in children’s health and community medicine, she became certified in pediatrics in 1943 and preventative medicine and public health in 1949.

In 1927, Katherine Bain joined her brother-in-law, Dr. Park J. White, in private practice. She and White ran a racially integrated pediatric facility. They also spoke out for Black doctors to be admitted to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Bain also held positions at several St. Louis medical facilities, including Washington University Medical School and Children’s Allergy Clinic, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and the City of St. Louis Health Department’s Well-Baby Clinics. She was a medical adviser for organizations that helped children such as the Girl Scouts, Convent of Good Shepherd, and the St. Louis Council on Parent Education.

In 1940, Katherine Bain left St. Louis and went to Washington, DC, to work for the federal government.  Joining the US Children’s Bureau, she became the director of its Division of Research in Child Development.

Rising through the ranks of the Children’s Bureau, Bain served as associate chief and deputy chief for program development. In 1964 she was appointed as the assistant chief for international cooperation. While at the Children’s Bureau, Bain conducted research and wrote reports that led to new guidelines on children’s health. Some of her areas of research were bottle-feeding and nursing for babies, designing refrigerator doors that could not lead to death by trapping children inside, and creating child-proof safety caps for medicine and chemicals. She also wrote or helped write more than forty publications on subjects ranging from allergies and nutrition to causes of infant deaths.

Through her work with the Children’s Bureau, Bain also became deeply interested in the health and safety of children around the world. In the 1940s, she assisted the federal government with programs on health, nutrition, and child care during World War II. She took part in the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture in 1943. During the 1950s, she worked to address the needs of children of agricultural migrant workers.

As an expert in pediatrics, public health, and international affairs, Bain was named the United States’ special adviser to the Executive Board of UNICEF in 1957. UNICEF was created after World War II to provide humanitarian aid, such as sanitation, healthcare, food, water, and education, to children worldwide. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy appointed her as the alternate US representative to UNICEF’s Executive Board. When the board met in Chile in 1969 to address the health and safety concerns of children and youths in Latin America, Bain led the US delegation. Between 1957 and 1969, she advised twenty-five countries, including Egypt, India, Pakistan, Poland, and Thailand, on pediatric care.

After spending thirty-three years in public service at the federal level, Bain retired in 1973. During her career she received several high awards, including the Superior Service Award from the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; US Surgeon General’s Medallion; Citation of Merit and Women’s Centennial Honors Award from the University of Missouri; Alumni Citation and Jannopaulo Hofsomner Award from Washington University; and the Elizabeth Blackwell Award for her contributions to the field of administration in pediatrics and public health.

She also held an important role within the American Pediatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which gave her its Grulee Award in 1967 for her work on committees related to nutrition, hospital care, adoption, and international child health. Katherine Bain passed away in Washington, DC, on January 10, 1999.

Text and research by Sean Rost

For more information about Katherine Bain’s life and career, see the following resources:

Society Resources

The following is a selected list of books, articles, and manuscripts about Katherine Bain in the research centers of The State Historical Society of Missouri. The Society’s call numbers follow the citations in brackets.

Articles from the Newspaper Collection

• “Dr. Bain Begins Worldwide Work with Children.” Columbia Missourian. January 22, 1964. p. 5.
• “Dr. Katherine Bain Appointed to Children’s Bureau.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat. September 8, 1940. p. 8A.
• “Dr. Katherine Bain Deputy Chief of Children’s Bureau.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. June 6, 1958. p. 10A.
• Duffy, Robert W. “Dr. Katherine Bain, 101; Aided Poor Mothers and Their Children.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 15, 1999. p. B5.
• Eads, Jane. “Infant Health Her Problem.” Springfield Leader and Press. April 23, 1951. p. 8.
• “Katherine Bain, St. Louis Doctor, Gets U.S. Post.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. September 8, 1940. p. 14A.
• “Patterson Bain, 90, Dies; Retired Manufacturer.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 22, 1940. p. 3C.
• Sorrels, William Wright. “A Spicy, Fragrant Afternoon at Bain’s Apple Butter Stir.” Kansas City Star. October 31, 1948. p. 2E.
• “Visitors Pour into City for Nat’l Conclaves.” St. Louis Argus. August 13, 1937. p. 1, 1B, 2B.
• Volland, Victor. “Maria Bain White, 104; Was Civil Rights Activist.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 9, 1997. p. 11C.

Books and Articles

• Soldan High School. The Scrip. St. Louis: Soldan High School, 1912–1916. [REF H235.851 So42, 1912–1916, v. 5-13]
• Washington University. The Hatchet. St. Louis: Washington University, 1926. [REF 378.778W2 V9 1926]

Manuscript Collection

• Katherine Bain Papers (C3706)
  Papers of a prominent Missouri pediatrician, 1927–1940; administrator, US Children’s Bureau, 1940–1972; member of US delegation to the executive board, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 1957–1973. Material on maternal and child health care in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, 1956–1970; and information on US contribution to UNICEF.

Outside Resources

These links will take you outside the Society’s website. The Society is not responsible for the content of the following websites:

• American Academy of Pediatrics
  This website is hosted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and provides access to oral history interviews conducted through the Gartner Pediatric History Center. Katherine Bain was interviewed for this project in 1996.
• Becker Archives Database
  This website is hosted by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and features the finding aid for the Katherine Bain Papers held at that institution.