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.

Dr. Harvey Levy – Heros of PKU – Asbjørn Følling Lecture 2012
Dr. Harvey Levy of Boston Children’s Hospital was presented with the Asbjørn Følling Memorial Lecture Award for delivering this talk, “Heroes of PKU — A History”, at the 4th European Phenylketonuria Group Symposium “Advances and Challenges in PKU”. The symposium was produced by Serono Symposia International Foundation, and took place in Rome, Italy, March 23-24, 2012.

This video is property of the PKU Academy, which is part of the Serono Symposia International Foundation. The PKU Academy provides complete and up-to-date information about PKU to healthcare professionals who are interested in the subject or already actively engaged in the field. Information and training, based on individual education need, is delivered by the world's top PKU experts. These medical education activities are available online, and in person in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Central and South America, Canada, Mexico.

The History of Newborn Screening by Harvey Levy, MD
This historical overview is presented by Dr. Harvey Levy, Senior Physician in Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, 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 the Rikshospitalet in Oslo, Norway. The interview was filmed in Oslo on July 22, 1965, and was conducted by Dr. Victoria Cass, Director of Maternal and Child Health for the state of Massachusetts. This video version of the interview includes an introduction by Dr. Harvey Levy, Senior Associate in Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, recorded in 2009.

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 Physician in Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.

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 Physician in Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.