Distinguished Service Award
Norman S. Talner, M.D.
Norman S. Talner (M.D. 1949, Residency 1952) is an emeritus professor of pediatrics in the medical schools of Yale University and Duke University.
Dr. Talner earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1949. Following an internship and residency at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, he returned to the U-M in 1951 for a residency in pediatrics at University Hospital. After serving two years in the Korean War as a U.S. Air Force captain in the Medical Corps, he returned to Ann Arbor as an instructor in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases. He then began a two-year fellowship in pediatric cardiology — Michigan’s first pediatric cardiology trainee.
In 1958, he was named assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases, a position he held until 1960 when he left the U-M for an assistant professor of pediatrics position at Yale. He was director of pediatric cardiology at Yale for 22 years and professor of pediatrics for 17. In 1992, he was named a clinical professor of pediatrics at Duke, a post he held until being granted emeritus status in 2007.
Dr. Talner is the recipient of numerous honors during more than 50 years of service to pediatric cardiology. The pediatric cardiology library and conference room in the Yale School of Medicine are named in his honor. A member of the Society for Pediatric Research and American Pediatric Society, he has been awarded 23 visiting professorships in the United States and several abroad.
He was a member of the Sub-Board of Pediatric Cardiology for eight years and also served as the medical editor for the Sub-Board examination.