Helen W. Gurson, M.D., an active family practice physician, died early Monday morning, Nov. 10, 1997 in West Penn Hospital. She was 82 years old. Dr. Gurson, a native of Pittsburgh, was motivated by the early death of her own mother to become a family physician. One of three women graduates of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Class of 1942 she opened her practice on the South Side of Pittsburgh, 2320 E. Carson Street, in 1949. When once asked about this pioneering spirit to become one of the few women physicians of the time, Dr. Gurson recalled, “People who interviewed me at Pittsburgh University Medical School said that giving me a spot would keep out a man who would need to support a family. They said I was taking away a man's livelihood, because I probably would get married and have children and never practice medicine.” Instead she dedicated her life to the care of her patients and delivered over one thousand babies. Dr. Gurson had been affiliated with South Side Hospital and was a member of the Allegheny County Medical Society since 1945. Dr. Gurson received numerous awards for her outstanding and compassionate work within the field of medicine. In 1992 she received the Allegheny County Medical Society's Nathaniel Bedford Award, honoring a primary care physician who demonstrated long-term dedication to patients' physical and psychological needs. In 1994, the Pennsylvania Medical Society honored Dr. Gurson with its Physician Volunteer Award in recognition of her lifetime of unselfish devotion to her patients and community. In 1995 she was named Family Physician of the Year by the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians. In 1997 Dr. Gurson was nominated as one of ten finalists for the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Family Physician of the Year Award.