[7] She decided to become a pediatric neurologist in 1951 after she spent twelve weeks at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and at the Hôpital des Enfants Malades in Paris.
[7] When she graduated from Lausanne Medical School in 1952, there were few paying jobs in Switzerland, so she applied to the United States to Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins and Bellevue Hospital.
[7][8] Of her husband, she said: "Without his unselfish and sustained encouragement and help, his willingness to share in all household and child-rearing jobs (except for car maintenance, his, and sewing, mine), I could never have flourished in child neurology as I did.
"[7] Her husband finished his Ph.D. at Columbia University, but knew she would not leave the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, so he accepted a "less prestigious" job nearby.
"[9] Rapin said, "My interest in language disorders and autism was enhanced by the arrival at Einstein of Dr. Doris A. Allen, whose background was developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and speech pathology ... After evaluating hundreds of autistic children, I became convinced that the report by one third of parents of autistic preschoolers of a very early language and behavioral regression is real and deserving of biologic investigation.
In order to have it all, that is, be married, have children, restore and furnish an antique house, work in the garden, enjoy a lot of what life offers, and have a great job, you need a supportive and generous mate, adequate baby sitting and house help, flexibility, good humor, and a nose for the unusual.
Consider every patient a potential source of new knowledge, describe what you see, pursue your interests vigorously, and learn to cut corners and prioritize.