Video Library

The New England Consortium of Metabolic Programs has a collection of historical and current videos illustrating vital concepts in metabolic research, screening, and treatment.

The History of Newborn Screening by Harvey Levy, MD
This historical overview is presented by Dr. Harvey Levy, Senior Associate in Medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston, and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.  In this 40 minute talk and slide presentation, offered in ten short video sections, Dr. Levy covers the history of newborn screening, starting with the origin of the concept of errors of inborn metabolism in the early 1900s, covering Dr. Robert Guthrie’s development of newborn screening for PKU, and moving through current screening methods and public health approaches.

Discovery of Phenylketonuria (PKU) by Dr. Asbjørn Følling
An interview with Dr. Asbjørn Følling, a Norwegian physician and biochemist, who discovered phenylketonuria (PKU) in 1934, while treating two children at Oslo, Norway’s Rikshospitalet. The interview was filmed in the 1970s in Oslo, and was conducted by Dr. Victoria Cass, Director of Maternal and Child Health for the state of Massachusetts. With an introduction by Dr. Harvey Levy, Senior Associate in Medicine at Childrens Hospital Boston.

Discovery of the Diet for PKU by Dr. Horst Bickel
This silent 8mm film, made by German doctor Horst Bickel, documents his discovery of the effects of phenylalanine on a patient with phenylketonuria (PKU), and features the first ever dietary treatment for PKU. Filmed at The Children’s Hospital, Birmingham, England, 1954-1955. Introduced by Dr. Harvey Levy, Senior Associate in Medicine at Childrens Hospital Boston.

Introducing the Newborn Screening Test by Dr. Robert Guthrie
The video was produced in the USA in 1970 by Dr. Robert Guthrie to explain newborn screening to public health laboratories in the USA.  Dr. Guthrie wanted to introduce the concept of a cost-effective and ubiquitous Newborn Screening Test, including how to obtain samples, and process them in a lab. With an introduction by Dr. Harvey Levy, Senior Associate in Medicine at Childrens Hospital Boston.