Elizabeth Blackwell: The first woman

physicianLauren Grant

Who is Elizabeth Blackwell? Why is she

important?• Elizabeth Blackwell is recognized as

the first female doctor.

• She set up a medical college to train women in medicine

• She created a hospital run by only women

• She understood the importance of hygiene

Early Life

• She was one of 9 Quaker children

• She believed that everyone was equal

• She emigrated to New York from England when she was 12

• Her mother gave her an education that was a good as a boy’s

Struggles

• She was denied by 29 medical schools before being accepted to one because of her gender

• She was continually asked to not attend lectures/demonstrations

• Her medical practice didn’t get a lot of business because men wouldn’t take their families to her

Accomplishments

• She was the first woman to receive a medical degree

• She graduated from medical school with honors

• She set up a woman-run hospital and educated women in medicine

• She gave hygienic talks that introduced new prevention methods

Fun Facts!

• she organized a unit of female field doctors during the Civil War

• She became a professor of gynecology at the London School of Medicine for Children

• She adopted an Irish orphan

• She used the medical field as a “barrier” to marriage

• After treating a baby with an eye infection, she went blind in one eye