 janet graeme travell, m.d. (december 17, 1901 â august 1, 1997) was an american physician and medical researcher. she was born in 1901 to willard and janet davidson travell. heavily influenced by her father's profession of physician, travell made the decision to pursue a career in the medical field. in 1929, janet married john w.g. powell, who was an investment counselor. their marriage produced two daughtersâjanet and virginia. at the age of 95, travell died of heart failure at her home in northampton, massachusetts. she is remembered as president john f. kennedy's personal physician and a researcher of the concept of trigger points as a cause of musculoskeletal referred pain. == career == during her careeer, dr. travell pioneered techniques for the treatment of myofascial pain. her career began with her educational pursuits at wellesley college and continued in graduate school as she pursued an m.d. from cornell university medical college in new york city. upon graduating in 1926, travell completed two years of residency at new york hospital while concurrently serving as an ambulance surgeon for the new york city police force. after completion of residency, travell became a research fellow at bellevue hospital, where she studied the effects of digitalis in patients with lobar pneumonia. once her fellowship was concluded, dr. travell returned to cornell university to serve as instructor in department of pharmacology and later as associate professor of clinical pharmacology. while working for cornell, she also acted as a cardiology consultant for sea view hospital in staten island. travell accepted a josiah macy, jr. fellowship at beth israel hospital in new york to study arterial disease from 1939 to 1941. it was during her tenure that she first became interested in skeletal muscle pain, which defined her later career. her research produced new anesthetic techniques for the treatment of painful back muscle spasms that proved very successful among patients. travell's techniques included the use of a local procaine injection and vapocoolant sprays to relieve pain. the sprays are still popular in sports medicine treatments today. it was her success with alleviating skeletal muscle pain that resulted in travell being the first female personal physician to the president. travell was called upon by the personal orthopedic surgeon of senator john f. kennedy to assist with back pain treatments. kennedy suffered from terrible pain resulting from invasive back surgeries related to injuries sustained during world war ii. when kennedy won the presidential race in 1960, he appointed her as his personal physician. her treatments included the use of a rocking chair to help alleviate pain, which led to the populari
1901_births 1997_deaths American_medical_researchers American_physicians American_women_physicians Cornell_University_alumni Physicians_to_the_President Wellesley_College_alumni