In Memoriam: Dr. Guido Currarino, noted pediatric radiologist

Dr. Guido Carlo Currarino, a pioneer in the subspecialty of pediatric radiology who taught generations of UT Southwestern Medical Center residents and fellows during a 30-year career as a faculty member, died on Dec. 20, 2015. He was 95.

Dr. Guido Carlo Currarino
Dr. Guido Carlo Currarino

A Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern, Dr. Currarino was named Chief Radiologist at Children’s Medical Center Dallas in 1965. After officially retiring in 1995, he continued part-time clinical work at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

“Guido Currarino was an incredibly talented pediatric radiologist who was renowned locally and nationally for his description of many radiologic syndromes and for his unique personality,” said Dr. Charles Ginsburg, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Administration at UT Southwestern Medical School and Professor of Pediatrics. “He was a fascinating character – a charming, puckish curmudgeon who was one of the famous early second-generation pediatric radiologists but, what few people knew, he was also fully trained as a pediatrician before he obtained radiology training in Boston and Cincinnati.”

Dr. Nancy Rollins, Children’s current Chief of Pediatric Radiology who was trained by Dr. Currarino during her residency, said he was a Renaissance man and an academician of a bygone era.

“He received a classical education that included Greek and Latin; for him Horace – a Roman lyrical poet popular during the time of Augustus Caesar – should only be read in Latin,” said Dr. Rollins, Professor of Pediatrics and of Radiology at UT Southwestern. “Dr. Currarino was irascible, humorous, and devoted to excellence. He trained countless residents and fellows in the art of plain film diagnosis and scared a few speechless.”   

Dr. Currarino was born in Levanto, Italy, in 1920. After earning a medical degree from the University of Genoa in 1945 and receiving pediatric training in Genoa, he came to the United States and completed a residency in pediatrics, and a residency in pediatric radiology, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He then served a fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. From 1955 to 1965, Dr. Currarino held staff appointments at the Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati and later at Cornell University’s New York Hospital.

Colleagues who worked with Dr. Currarino recalled his attention to detail and single-minded mission of serving patients. Prior to the advent of CT and MRI, Dr. Currarino supplied many surgeons with 3D renderings drawn with wax on sheets of film to guide them in the operating room. 

“Early in my career, I spent many hours in Guido’s dark office viewing X-ray films of patients for whom I was providing care at Children’s,” Dr. Ginsburg said. “Unlike any other radiologists with whom I ever interacted, Guido was often found in a hospitalized child’s room – usually very early in the morning or in the late evening – stealthily examining the patient in an attempt to correlate the findings from the physical exam to the images that he saw on the X-ray films.

“Not infrequently, he would page me and tell me that one of my patients had a radiologic abnormality that had not been previously considered or detected and would tell me ‘You better do something about it’ and then abruptly hang up.  In all the years that I knew him, I never saw or heard that he missed a radiologic diagnosis.”

Dr. Currarino, who shared the American Roentgen Ray Society Gold Medal in 1954 with Dr. Edward Neuhauser for work on hypophosphatasia, was a tireless researcher who published 122 articles throughout his long career. He was a long-time member of the John Caffey Society and contributed to Caffey’s Pediatric X-Ray Diagnosis. He was particularly interested in congenital abnormalities, two of which bear his name: the Currarino syndrome, and the Currarino-Silverman syndrome.

Dr. Currarino was a charter member of The Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR). In 1995, he received the SPR Gold Medal, the organization’s most distinguished honor. The SPR Gold Medal is awarded to pediatric radiologists who have contributed greatly to the SPR and to the subspecialty of pediatric radiology as a scientist, teacher, personal mentor, and leader.

In addition to medicine, Dr. Currarino spoke numerous languages, enjoyed Renaissance art, chamber music and opera, Latin poetry, and was an outstanding cook.

Dr. Currarino is survived by his wife of 49 years, Dr. Nellie Luhn Currarino, whom he met while she served as chief of pediatric anesthesiology at Children’s; daughter, Rosanne Currarino; son-in-law, Christopher Warley; and many relatives in Italy.​

A memorial service for Dr. Currarino will take place at 10 a.m. on Jan. 9 at Christ the King Catholic Church, 8017 Preston Road.

Dr. Ginsburg holds the Marilyn R. Corrigan Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Research.

Dr. Rollins holds the Charles Cameron Sprague, M.D., Chair in Medical Science.