George W. Goler

Who was George W. Goler?

George Washington Goler, M.D. was a pioneer in pediatrics. In addition to being the founder of the first prenatal clinic in the United States, he was the first to advocate a municipal department for the pasteurization of milk.

After his appointment in 1896 as the Director of the Board of Health in Rochester, New York, Goler set about to reduce infant mortality. Following the efforts of New York City merchant Nathan Straus, who had provided pasteurized milk at cost to residents of tenements, Goler organized a station for the purification and distribution of milk.

During the months of July and August 1897, when infant deaths were at their highest, Goler arranged for an Infants' Milk Depot to be set up in a storefront in Rochester, with two nurses to pasteurize and cool milk, then to sell it at cost to mothers of small children. A pamphlet entitled "How to Take Care of Babies" was published in four languages and distributed for free. Infant mortality was reduced by 50 percent, and the city established four depots the following summer. In 1900, Goler set about to increase the cleanliness of raw milk, with strict hygienic standards at a particular dairy farm.