St. Jude’s historic roadmap in the segregated South
This was Paul Williams' original five-point design for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. With five spokes from a central hub, the initial St. Jude building served thousands of patients during the hospital’s formative years and hosted groundbreaking research that produced the first major advances in treating leukemia and other childhood diseases. (Courtesy St. Jude Children's Research Hospital)
St. Jude became the first fully integrated children’s hospital in the South, where Black and white patients were treated in the same room, dined together and shared bathroom facilities.
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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Danny Thomas ALSAC Richard Shadyac Jr. Subscriber Only2025 is almost over. Now is the time to support your trusted local news source.
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Aisling Mäki
Aisling Mäki covers health care, banking and finance, technology and professions. After launching her career in news two decades ago, she worked in public relations for almost a decade before returning to journalism in 2022.
As a health care reporter, she’s collaborated with The Carter Center, earned awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists and won a 2024 Tennessee Press Association first-place prize for her series on discrepancies in Shelby County life expectancy by ZIP code.
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