Chapin, Henry Dwight (1857-1942)

US paediatrician and social reformer. Working in the area of proper nutrition for infants, he pioneered home care through trained social workers, and founded the Speedwell Society to encourage foster care. With his wife, Alice Delafield, he actively secured adoptions for 1,700 children.

He was born in Steubenville, Ohio. He entered medical practice in 1884 in New York City and began to teach on children's diseases at the New York Post-Graduate School (1885-1920) and at the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children (1885-90). He was a charter member and president of the American Paediatric Society (1910-11). A reader of philosophy, he played the violin, loved travel, and enjoyed vintage wines.