Dr. Holmes Morton

Director, Clinic for Special Children

Holmes is a pediatrician whose practice provides medical care for children with inherited disorders. He co-founded the Clinic for Special Children with his wife Caroline in Strasburg Pennsylvania. The Clinic is a non-profit organization that is supported by the Amish and Mennonite families of Lancaster County Pennsylvania who have children with maple syrup disease and glutaric aciduria. Since 1989, however, patients with these and more than 60 other genetic disorders have come to the Clinic in Strasburg from 27 of the United States, Canada, and from as far as Iran, Holland, England, Brazil, and India. Beyond biology and medicine, his interests include studying the cello, fishing for brook trout in mountain streams, writing short stories, and playing an occasional game of golf. In recognition of his work as a pediatrician, Holmes has been awarded six honorary doctoral degrees. He was also featured in Contemporary Pediatrics as an Advocate for Children and in a special issue of Time magazine as a Hero of Medicine. Twice, he and the Clinic for Special Children were awarded the Smithsonian Institution Award for Innovations in Technology. In 1993, Holmes was also awarded the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, a prize given jointly by the Alexander von Humbolt Foundation of Germany and Johns Hopkins University.