Arvo Ylppö

Arvo Henrik Ylppö (1887 to 1992) was a Finnish physician and professor of pediatrics who is credited with greatly reducing infant mortality in Finland during the twentieth century. Born in Akaa into a farming family, he studied at the University of Helsinki and in Berlin, where his thesis dealt with bilirubin metabolism in infants, and his research showed that many deaths of premature babies came from treatable conditions rather than simple underdevelopment. Back in Finland he established an advice centre for young children at the Children's Castle hospital in 1922, regarded as the start of the country's child health clinic system, became professor of pediatrics in 1925, and served as chief physician of that hospital from 1920 to 1963. He lived to the age of 104.