John Patrick Caffey (March 30, 1895 – September 2, 1978) was an American pediatrician and radiologist who is often referred to as one of the founders of pediatric radiology.

[1] He attended school in Salt Lake City, Utah, before enrolling at the University of Michigan, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1916 and a Doctor of Medicine in 1919.

He returned to the United States in 1923, completing a residency in medicine at the University of Michigan and then an internship in pediatrics at Babies Hospital in New York City.

[3] Caffey was the first to describe what is now known as shaken baby syndrome with a 1946 article on the association between long bone fractures and subdural hematomas in infants.

He continued his research in Pittsburgh, describing the earliest radiological changes of Perthes disease and a new form of dwarfism, termed Kenny-Caffey syndrome.