Apgar gave this talk at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Alumni Day in 1960. Less than a year into her new position with the National Foundation-March of Dimes, she chose to discuss the application of her new field of study, genetics, to the specialty she had worked in for several decades. The genetic disorders known as "inborn errors of metabolism" were very relevant to anesthesiology: inherited differences in various metabolic enzymes could have a great effect on a patient's response to anesthetics. Tests for enzyme deficiencies, done before an operation, could help avoid anesthesia complications.
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