Pulling Back the Curtain
Richard W. Childs, MD
In this edition, Richard W. Childs, MD, talks about his accomplishments in
immunotherapy, his role in the response to the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak,
and his several patented inventions. Dr. Childs is a rear admiral (RADM) in the
United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Assistant U.S. Surgeon
General, and the clinical director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s
Division of Intramural Research in the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Childs at the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps headquarters.
What was your first job in
the medical industry?
During summer breaks from
college, I worked as an orderly
in a psychiatric ward at Broward
General Hospital in Fort Lauder-
dale, Florida. I worked in what
was called the “closed acute
unit,” which housed patients
with psychiatric illnesses who
were considered to be a threat to
themselves or to the community.
I performed the typical duties of
an orderly – helping transport
patients or assisting them with
simple tasks – but I also played
cards and spent time just inter-
acting with them. And if they
became violent, I was involved in
restraining them.
Did you ever consider
pursuing a career other
than medicine?
There’s only one thing that I feel
like I could ever have done, and
that is to be a physician. It’s been
my lifelong passion. Fortunately, I
think it’s also something I excel at;
I’m good at listening to patients
talking about their symptoms,
checking labs and collecting in-
formation, and generating differ-
ential diagnoses. Sometimes I feel
like it’s the only true talent I have.
I have always been fascinated
by the detective work involved in
making a medical diagnosis. It’s
the biggest challenge in manag-
ing and treating patients; once the
diagnosis has been made, a big
chunk of the challenge disappears.
Making a diagnosis requires lis-
tening to and synthesizing the
facts – and occasionally finding
the “zebras” that other people
might not consider.
Being a clinician is my call-
ing, but I think the qualities that
make me a good clinician – my
creative mind and inventive streak
– would also make me a good
inventor. In fact, I already hold
several patents.
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ASH Clinical News
Tell us about your inventions.
The first patent was issued for a
portable alcohol detector, which
my father helped me develop
when I was only 15 years old. This
was during the late 1970s and
early 1980s, when drunk driving
was becoming an epidemic. My
father and I had talked about how
neat it would be if people could
do a self-assessment to determine
if they were too inebriated to
drive safely.
I headed to the library to
research methods for assessing
the presence of alcohol on one’s
breath. The first breathalyzers
relied on a chemical reaction: A
person breathed into a machine,
the breath was pumped through
a chemical solution, and the solu-
tion would change color in the
presence of alcohol.
Using these same principles,
my father and I developed our
device. He did the plastics work
and I did the chemistry, figuring
out what catalysts were needed
to detect alcohol. We created and
patented the cartridges to be used
in the device, under the trade-
marked name “Test and Tell.” We
licensed it to a company, and it
actually was used by a couple of
police departments as an on-site
screening tool to test drivers for
alcohol consumption.
I hold about 10 other patents
in the medical field. Inventing
things and coming up with new
solutions to problems has always
been something I’ve enjoyed.
What other accomplishments
are you proud of?
First and foremost, my greatest
accomplishment is my family.
I am blessed with an incredibly
supportive wife and great children
who have allowed me to fulfill my
role as a physician-scientist and
as an officer in the Commissioned
Corps of the U.S. Public Health
Service. It has taken a personal
sacrifice on the part of my wife
November 2018