Janet G. Travell

Janet Graeme Travell, M.D. (December 17, 1901 – August 1, 1997) was an American physician and medical researcher. She was born in 1901 to John Willard and Janet Eliza (Davidson) Travell. Heavily influenced by her father's profession of physician, Travell made the decision to pursue a career in the medical field. In June 1929, in New York City, Janet married John William Gordon Powell, who was an investment counselor. They had two daughters—Janet 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 career, Dr. Travell pioneered techniques for the treatment of myofascial pain, including dry needling. 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.