Herbert C. Mansmann Jr., MD, FAAAAI and Stephen J. McGeady, MD, FAAAAI Lectureship
The AAAAI Foundation is pleased to honor the life and careers of Dr. Herbert C. Mansmann Jr. and Dr. Stephen J. McGeady with the creation of the Herbert C. Mansmann Jr., MD, FAAAAI and Stephen J. McGeady, MD, FAAAAI Lectureship.
Dr. Herbert C. Mansmann was a pioneer in the field of allergy, asthma, and immunology. As a pioneer in the field, he encouraged his fellows in training to treat clinically meaningful diagnostic findings long before such practices became recommended. He was a proponent of using magnesium in status asthmaticus patients. When prednisone was first available for use in asthma, Dr. Mansmann 
quickly adopted its use in clinical practice, saving and changing the lives of many asthma patients. Of note, at the time when small airway changes were not thought to be clinically significant, Dr. Mansmann taught his fellows that such findings were clinically significant and required to be medically managed.
He encouraged all his fellows in training, not just to be an allergist, but to be the best allergist based on each individual strength and expertise. He guided everyone to harness those strengths and to think outside the proverbial box in the allergy and immunology field. Dr. Mansmann believed in an intellectual balance with physical capacity. He authored over 100 publications, was an avid skier and encouraged physical activity to spark intellectual aptitude.
Herbert had an exceptional career spanning over 50 years. Dr. Mansmann was Past President Pennsylvania Asthma and Allergy Association as well as Past President of the Philadelphia Allergy Association. Dr. Mansmann created the Allergy Fellowship Training Program at Thomas Jefferson Medical College. He was instrumental in training over 100 fellows in the allergy and immunology training program. The fellows that Dr. Mansmann touched in their career have gone on to practice both nationally and internationally.
While completing his allergy and immunology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr. Mansmann stayed an extra year in a microbiology (immunology) fellowship at New York University College of Medicine managing the iron lungs for polio patients. He returned to Pittsburgh to work with Dr. Sabin on the polio vaccine. While setting up the Pittsburgh Allergy Clinic, he worked as a physician for the courts but also maintained academic ties through continuing laboratory research on cellular immunity.
Dr. Herbert Charles Mansmann Jr. died Sept. 4, 2007, at Franklin Memorial Hospital. He was born April 11, 1924, in Pittsburgh, Pa., the son of Herbert Charles and Aletha (Taylor) Mansmann Sr. He met his wife-to-be, Margaret Miller in 1943, at the age of 20 and married her in August 1947. He then went off to serve his country in the U.S. Army infantry during World War II in the European theater, where he was injured during the Battle of the Bulge. Margaret wrote to him every day.
Upon returning home, he looked beyond his obsession with football and went on to graduate from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1951. Herbert completed his training in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital from 1951-1954 in Pittsburgh. He was a Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Professor of Medicine, and the developer and first Director of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Jefferson Medical College.
He was also the medical director of the Children’s Heart Hospital in Pennsylvania for five years, and the executive secretary of the Board of Allergy and Immunology for 25 years. His founding of the Pediatric Asthma, Allergy & Immunology journal was the epitome of his entrepreneurship. The journal is still in publication to this day as Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology. He and his wife retired to live in their beloved camp on Dodge Pond in Rangeley, where the whole family has been coming for years to enjoy hunting, fishing, and skiing. Since retiring, he had been doing research on magnesium and was currently putting this research into a book.
Stephen J. McGeady, MD, FAAAAI, is Professor of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and an attending physician at Nemours Children’s Health. Dr. McGeady has been teaching, mentoring, and inspiring fellows-in-training (FITs), residents, and medical students for 50 years.
He previously served as the Allergy/Immunology Fellowship Program Director of Thomas Jefferson University and the Allergy/Immunology Division Chief of Nemours Children’s Health. Dr. McGeady is past president of the Pennsylvania Allergy & Asthma Association and Philadelphia Allergy Society. He is past chair of the AAAAI Program Directors Assembly Executive Committee and past co-chair of the Workforce Committee. He earned his medical degree from Creighton University, completed residency in pediatrics at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and completed fellowship in allergy/immunology at Duke University.
Dr. McGeady is board certified in pediatrics and allergy/immunology, with subspecialty certification in clinical and laboratory immunology, and is the author of over 65 peer reviewed publications. He currently educates trainees during weekly clinics and didactics, oversees a dedicated immunology teaching clinic, and mentors FITs in their research.
If you wish to honor Dr. Herbert C. Mansmann Jr. and Dr. Stephen J. McGeady, please consider making a gift to the AAAAI Foundation and Herbert C. Mansmann Jr., MD, FAAAAI and Stephen J. McGeady, MD, FAAAAI Lectureship. A donation in any amount can be dedicated to this effort.
Dr. Stephen J. McGeady and Dr. Mansmann's family will be notified of your gift, and your name will be listed as a donor to this fund in the Annual Report of the AAAAI Foundation. We appreciate your support and your commitment to the advancement of our specialty.
To contribute by phone, please call the AAAAI Foundation Office at (414) 272-6071.
Donate to the Herbert C. Mansmann Jr., MD, FAAAAI and Stephen J. McGeady, MD, FAAAAI Lectureship