Women in Medicine

Women in MedicineAn Encyclopedia

Laura Lynn Windsor

Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England

Copyright © 2002 by Laura Lynn Windsor

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Windsor, LauraWomen in medicine: An encyclopedia / Laura Windsor

p. ; cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1–57607-392-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)1. Women in medicine—Encyclopedias.

[DNLM: 1. Physicians, Women—Biography. 2. Physicians, Women—Encyclopedias—English. 3. Health Personnel—Biography. 4.Health Personnel—Encyclopedias—English. 5. Medicine—Biography. 6.Medicine—Encyclopedias—English. 7. Women—Biography. 8.Women—Encyclopedias—English. WZ 13 W766e 2002] I. Title.

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For Mom

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Abbott, Maude Elizabeth Seymour, 1Abouchdid, Edma, 3Acosta Sison, Honoria, 3Alexander, Hattie Elizabeth, 4Ali, Safieh, 5Alvord, Lori Arviso, 5American Medical Women’s Association, 6American Women’s Hospitals, 7Andersen, Dorothy Hansine, 7Anderson, Charlotte Morrison, 8Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett, 8Angwin, Maria Louisa, 10Apgar Score System, 11Apgar, Virginia, 11Ashby, Winifred Mayer, 13Aspasia, 14Avery, Mary Ellen, 14

Bacheler, Mary Washington, 17Bain, Barbara, 18Baker, Sara Josephine, 18Balfour, Margaret Ida, 19Barnes, Alice Josephine, 20Barriers to Success, 20Barringer, Emily Dunning, 23Barry, James, 24Barton, Clara (Clarissa Harlowe), 25Bassi, Laura Maria Caterina, 26Bayerova, Anna, 27Biheron, Marie Catherine, 27Blackwell, Elizabeth, 27Blackwell, Emily, 33

Blanchfield, Florence Aby, 34Bocchi, Dorothea, 35Boivin, Marie Anne Victoire Gillain, 35 Bourgeois, Louise, 36Britton, Mary E., 37Brown, Dorothy Lavinia, 37Brown, Edith Mary, 38Brown, Rachel Fuller, 39Brundtband, Gro Harlem, 39Budzinski-Tylicka, Justine, 40

Calverley, Eleanor Jane Taylor, 41Canady, Alexa Irene, 41Chevandier Law of 1892, 42Chinn, May Edward, 42Claypole, Edith Jane, 43Cleveland, Emeline Horton, 44Cobb, Jewel Plummer, 44Cole, Rebecca, 45Comnena, Anna, 45Comstock Act of 1873, 46Conley, Frances Krauskopf, 46Cori, Gerty Theresa Radnitz, 47Correia, Elisa, 48Craighill, Margaret D., 49Crosby, Elizabeth Caroline, 49Crumpler, Rebecca Lee, 50Curie, Marie Sklodowska, 50

Dalle Donne, Maria, 55Daly, Marie Maynard, 55Daniel, Annie Sturges, 56

Contents

Foreword, Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., xiPreface and Acknowledgments, xiii

Introduction, xvii

Women in Medicine

Contents

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Darrow, Ruth Renter, 56Dayhoff, Margaret Oakley, 57Dejerine-Klumpke, Augusta, 57Delano, Jane Arminda, 57Dempsey, Sister Mary Joseph, 58Dengal, Anna Maria, 59Diaz Inzunza, Eloiza, 59Dick, Gladys Rowena Henry, 60Dickens, Helen Octavia, 61Dickey, Nancy Wilson, 62Dix, Dorothea Lynde, 62Dmitrieva, Valentina Ionovna, 64Dock, Lavinia Lloyd, 64Dolley, Sarah Read Adamson, 65du Coudray, Angelique Marguerite, 66Dufferin Fund, 67Dunn, Thelma Brumfield, 67Durocher, Marie Josefina Mathilde, 68Dyer, Helen Marie, 68

Edinburgh School of Medicine, 69Elders, Minnie Joycelyn, 69Elion, Gertrude Belle, 70Emerson, Gladys Anderson, 71Erxleben, Dorothea Christiana, 72Eskelin, Karolina, 73Evans, Alice Catherine, 73

Fabiola, Saint, 75Farquhar, Marilyn Gist, 75Felicie, Jacoba, 76Female Genital Mutilation, 76Fenselau, Catherine Clarke, 76Ferguson, Angela Dorothea, 77Flexner Report, 78Footbinding, 78Fowler, Lydia Folger, 79Franklin, Martha Minerva, 79Franklin, Rosalind Elsie, 80Freud, Anna, 81Friend, Charlotte, 82Fulton, Mary Hannah, 82

Geneva Medical College, 85Giliani, Alessandra, 85Goodrich, Annie Warburton, 85Gordon, Doris Clifton Jolly, 87Guangzhou, China, 87

Hamilton, Alice, 89Han Suyin, 91Hautval, Adelaide, 92

Hazen, Elizabeth Lee, 92He Manqiu, 93Healy, Bernadine, 94Heikel, Rosina, 94Hemenway, Ruth V., 95Hildegard of Bingen, 96Hoby, Lady Margaret, 96Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot, 96Honzakova, Anna, 98Hoobler, Icie Gertrude Macy, 98Horney, Karen Theodora Clementina

Danielsen, 99Hubbard, Ruth, 100Hugonay, Countess Vilma, 101Hyde, Ida Henrietta, 102

Inglis, Elsie Maude, 103

Jacobi, Mary Corinna Putnam, 105Jacobs, Aletta Henriette, 107Jalas, Rakel, 108Jemison, Mae Carol, 108Jex-Blake, Sophia Louisa, 109Johns Hopkins University, 111Joliet-Curie, Irene, 112Jones, Mary Amanda Dixon, 113Jones, Mary Ellen, 115Jordan, Lynda, 115Joteyko, Josephine, 116

Kagan, Helena, 117Kaufman, Joyce Jacobson, 117Kelsey, Frances Oldham, 118Kenny, Elizabeth, 118Kenyon, Josephine Hemenway, 120Klein, Melanie, 121Krajewska, Teodora, 122Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth, 122

Lachapelle, Marie-Louise Duges, 125LaFlesche Picotte, Susan, 125Lancefield, Rebecca Craighill, 126Lazarus, Hilda, 127L’Esperance, Elise Depew Strang, 128Levi-Montalcini, Rita, 128Longshore, Hannah Myers, 130Lopez, Rita Lobato Velho, 131Lovejoy, Esther Clayson Pohl, 131Luisi, Paulina, 132Lyon, Mary Frances, 132

Mabie, Catharine Louise Roe, 133

Contents

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Macklin, Madge Thurlow, 134Macnamara, Dame Annie Jean, 134Mahoney, Mary Eliza, 135Malahlele, Mary Susan, 136 Mandl, Ines, 136Manley, Audrey Forbes, 136McClintock, Barbara, 137McGee, Anita Newcomb, 138McKinnon, Emily H. S., 139Medical Act of 1858, 139Medical College of Pennsylvania, 139Medical Women’s International Association

(MWIA), 140Mendenhall, Dorothy Reed, 141Mendoza-Gauzon, Marie Paz, 142Mergler, Marie Josepha, 142Miller, Jean Baker, 142Minoka-Hill, Lillie Rosa, 143Mission Work, 144Montoya, Matilde, 146Morani, Alma Dea, 146Murray, Flora, 146

Neufeld, Elizabeth Fondal, 147New England Female Medical College, 147New England Hospital, 148New Hospital for Women and Children,

149Nielsen, Nielsine Mathilde, 149Nightingale, Florence, 149Novello, Antonia Coello, 152Nusslein-Volhard, Christiane, 153Nutting, Mary Adelaide, 154

Ockett, Molly, 157Ogino, Ginko, 157Osborn, June Elaine, 157

Paget, Mary Rosalind, 159Pak, Esther Kim, 159Parrish, Rebecca, 160Pearce, Louise, 160Perez, Ernestina, 161Perozo, Evangelina Rodriguez, 161Petermann, Mary Locke, 161Pickett, Lucy Weston, 162Pittman, Margaret, 162Pool, Judith Graham, 163Possanner-Ehrenthal, Garbrielle, 163Preston, Ann, 163Public Health and Women, 165

Quimby, Edith Hinkley, 169

Ramsey, Mimi, 171Remond, Sarah Parker, 171Richards, Ellen Henrietta Swallow, 172Richards, Linda (Melinda Ann Judson), 173Robb, Isabel Hampton, 174Rodriguez-Dulanto, Laura Esther, 175Russell Gurney Enabling Act of 1876, 175Ruys, A. Charlotte, 175

el Saadawi, Nawal, 177Sabin, Florence Rena, 178Salber, Eva Juliet, 179Salpêtrière Asylum, 179Sanger, Margaret, 180Saunders, Cicely Mary Strode, 181Scharlieb, Mary Ann Dacomb Bird, 182Scottish Women’s Hospitals, 182Scudder, Ida Sophia, 183Seacole, Mary Jane Grant, 184Seibert, Florence Barbara, 184Sewall, Lucy Ellen, 185Shaibany, Homa, 186Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921, 186Sherrill, Mary Lura, 187Siegemundin, Justine Dittrichin, 187Solis, Manuela, 187Solis Quiroga, Margarita Delgado de, 187Spaangberg-Holth, Marie, 188Spoerry, Anne, 188Stern, Lina Solomonova, 188Steward, Susan Maria Smith McKinney, 189Stewart, Alice, 190Stone, Emma Constance, 191Stowe, Emily, 191Sundquist, Alma, 192Swain, Clara A., 192Sylvain, Yvonne, 193

Taussig, Helen Brooke, 195Thompson, Mary Harris, 197Tilghman, Shirley Marie Caldwell, 198Trout, Jennie Kidd, 198Turner-Warwick, Margaret, 199

University of Bologna, 201University of Salerno, 202

Van Hoosen, Bertha, 203Vejjabul, Pierra Hoon, 203Villa, Amelia Chopitea, 204

Contents

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Villa-Komaroff, Lydia, 204

Wald, Florence Schorske, 207Wald, Lillian D., 208Walker, Mary Broadfoot, 209Walker, Mary Edwards, 209Wars and Epidemics, 210Wauneka, Annie Dodge, 212Weizmann, Vera, 213Western Reserve College, 214Wetterhahn, Karen Elizabeth, 214Whately, Mary Louisa, 214

Widerstrom, Karolina, 215Williams, Anna Wessels, 215Williams, Cicely Delphin, 216Women of Color in Medicine, 217Wong-Staal, Flossie, 220Wright, Jane Cooke, 221

Yalow, Rosalyn Sussman, 223Yoshioka, Yayoi, 224

Zakrzewska, Marie Elizabeth, 225

Bibliography, 227Index, 239

About the Author, 259

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In any arena there is a need for compileddata to delineate milestones, identifypathfinders and leaders, and document theprogress. Laura Lynn Windsor has done justthat for the issues surrounding women inthe profession of medicine. This workshould be of assistance to those writing orspeaking on the topic of women in medicineand, while the work is comprehensive indata covered, it serves as well as a timelyupdate on recent additions.

As the material is reviewed, it is notewor-thy that while some may argue that womenhave achieved equity, a substantial numberof the entries represent the last quarter ofthe twentieth century and virtually all of theentries represent barely a century of effort.Although there is work yet to be done, per-haps there is encouragement in so much al-ready accomplished, challenged and con-quered—dreamt of, then realized.

Throughout these pages, Ms. Windsorhas done a nice job of identifying important

mentors and the impact of previous pio-neers on the subsequent generations. Al-though the primary role of this encyclope-dia may be compilation of data for historicalresearch purposes, there may well be thosewho will turn its pages and find encourage-ment for their own dreams—mentors notyet met who can bridge across time to en-courage a young lady to reach further,dream bigger, and then just do it!

Although women who aspire to a role inmedicine may be appreciative of those whocame before, clearly our patients and com-munities have much for which to be gratefulas well. From scientific discovery thatchanged lives to commitment to publichealth and well-being, women have raisedstandards, created new understanding, andtouched lives. Ms. Windsor is to be ap-plauded for creating an encyclopedia thatincludes so much humanity amidst its dataand facts.

Nancy W. Dickey, M.D.

Foreword

Preface and Acknowledgments

I hold it a noble task to rescue fromoblivion those who deserve to be eternallyremembered.

—Pliny the Younger

As a reference librarian for more than fifteenyears, I was surprised to find no one-vol-ume reference work on women in medicine.There are many out-of-print books onwomen and the medical profession, as wellas some current, more general books onwomen and science, but it is certainly timeto make room for a reference book focusedon women in medical science. Despite of-ten-hostile work environments, womenhave contributed to phenomenal progress inmany fields, especially in the last half of thetwentieth century. I know this volume willfill a void in my library, and I hope othersfind it useful as well.

This work compiles biographies of anumber of women who throughout historyhave made a significant impact on medi-cine. They have demonstrated tremendoustalent and insight in caring for the sick; inadvancing research on numerous diseasessuch as cancer and AIDS; and in establish-ing and running hospitals, colleges, andgovernment agencies. They contributed im-pressive intellectual gifts and great organi-zational skills to many medical specialties,serving as role models for women todaywho desire to become physicians in a pro-fession still dominated by men. This ency-clopedia focuses on women physicians,nurses, and researchers in particular butalso includes related entries on institutions,medical terms, and social issues relevant towomen in medicine.

The volume is arranged alphabeticallyand includes cross-references where appro-priate. Each biographical entry concentrateson the woman and her accomplishments asopposed to a long litany of discriminationshe faced in male-dominated institutions. Itseems that the hardships faced by womenalong the way are well documented and donot need to be a focal point in each entry.However, specific incidents are mentionedif they had a significant impact on thewoman’s medical career.

I attempted to include women from out-side North America and Western Europe, al-though information was often scant. Manyof these women broke new ground andshould be recognized as pioneers whoforged ahead where there were no mentorsor role models. Those who left positive lega-cies were certainly not forgotten in theirown countries.

The entries “Mission Work” and “Warsand Epidemics” examine two areas wherewomen found fewer barriers to their partici-pation in medicine. The “Barriers to Success”entry looks at women’s overall struggle toachieve in medicine, and the “Public Healthand Women” entry examines a twentieth-century window of opportunity for women.

Even societies that resisted conversion toa new faith often accepted medical helpfrom women missionaries. In some cases,cultural norms allowed only women physi-cians for female patients. During wartimeand epidemics, women advanced medicalprocedures around the globe as they re-sponded to calls for additional practitionersor served disadvantaged populations. De-spite these ostensible steps forward, when

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the crisis was past and social norms were re-instated, women were again subject to lim-ited opportunities.

Women of color have encountered evenmore obstacles in pursuing medical careers.There is a dearth of information on womenof diverse ethnic backgrounds in medicine.Some valuable references do exist, amongthem Staupers’s No Time for Prejudice: AStory of the Integration of Negroes in Nursingin the United States (1961); Morais’s History ofthe Negro in Medicine (1969); Sammons’sBlacks in Science and Medicine (1990); andHine’s Black Women in America (1993) andFacts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women inAmerica (1997). The “Women of Color inMedicine” entry explores some of the obsta-cles faced by women of color. I hope in theyears to come there will be more scholar-ship and information devoted to the histor-ical significance of contributions of men andwomen of all races and ethnicities.

This project has reaffirmed my belief thatvery little information can be found on theinternet for free, and the most abundant andreliable information still occurs in books, inmicrofilm sets that captured historical docu-ments before they disappeared, on oldopaque cards, and in print indexes that maynever be converted to electronic format.However, the internet was very useful inproviding access to a myriad of electronicdatabases upon which the scholarly worldrelies, such as ABC-CLIO’s Historical Ab-stracts and America: History and Life, the Webof Science, OCLC’s databases, variouswomen’s studies databases, numerousnewspaper databases, university catalogsaround the world, legal databases, the ERICsite, PsychInfo, MEDLINE, CINAHL, andHealth and Wellness Center, to name just a few.Other helpful reference sources were Ameri-can National Biography, Dictionary of AmericanMedical Biography, Dictionary of National Biog-raphy, and Dictionary of Scientific Biography,along with standard country-specific ency-clopedias such as Who’s Who and biographydatabases—BGMI, Biography Index, New YorkTimes Obituaries Index, and Palmer’s.

Current literature on women in medicineis limited to the broader topic of science ingeneral with selected women in medicine

included, such as Rossiter’s Women Scien-tists in America: Struggles and Strategies to1940 (1982); Kass-Simon and Farnes’sWomen of Science (1990); Sammons’s Blacksin Science and Medicine (1990); Bailey’s Amer-ican Women in Science (1994); Shearer andShearer’s Notable Women in the Life Sciences(1996); McGrayne’s Nobel Prize Women inScience (1998); Proffitt’s Notable Women Sci-entists (1999); Ogilvie and Harvey’s Bio-graphical Dictionary of Women in Science(2000); and Haines’s International Women inScience (2001).

Some standard sources that are now outof print but are nonetheless quite useful areHurd-Mead’s A History of Women in Medi-cine from the Earliest Times to the Beginning ofthe Nineteenth Century (1938), Lovejoy’sWomen Doctors of the World (1957), Morantz-Sanchez’s Sympathy and Science (1985), andAlic’s Hypatia’s Heritage (1986). Stille’s Extra-ordinary Women of Medicine (1997), Kent’sWomen in Medicine (1998), and Hunter’sLeaders in Medicine (1999) are very good ju-venile books with a select number of themore well-known women in medicine.

We do have a fair amount of material inletters written by women practitioners be-fore 1950. Gelbart’s The King’s Midwife: AHistory and Mystery of Madame du Coudray(1998); Morantz-Sanchez’s Conduct Unbe-coming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn (1999), which chroni-cles the life of Mary Amanda Dixon Jones;and Comfort’s The Tangled Field: Barbara Mc-Clintock’s Search for the Patterns of GeneticControl (2001) are three examples of excel-lent current biographies.

A number of biographies are very good,but many are out of print. There is an obvi-ous reason for the lack of biographies andautobiographies on women. Men who con-tributed to the medical field normally hadfaculty status at universities with a bit oftime to write about their accomplishmentsand personal life; these biographies havebeen very valuable to those of us interestedin the history of medicine. Most women inmedicine, however, have not had the leisureto write memoirs. With few exceptions priorto the twentieth century, many were not al-lowed to have their own laboratories or any

Preface and Acknowledgments

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academic rank, and even today mostwomen nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers are too busy working a longday and then, in many instances, caring fora family.

AcknowledgmentsAcknowledging all of the libraries aroundthe world that assisted with this projectwould take numerous pages. Many of theentries would not have been possible with-out the help of librarians in the United Stateswho supplied interlibrary loan materialsand librarians in other countries who for-warded information from local publications.

I’d like to express my deepest apprecia-tion to these and other people who work inlibraries.

I know that many writers acknowledgethe phenomenal progress librarians havemade as a profession. As a librarian, I know

how hard it has been to achieve thisprogress. Catalogers are the heart of the li-brary system. I found things I never knewexisted by simply using the library catalog.Everyone who works to process and keepitems in order, whether they are books, mi-crofilm boxes, photos, or journals, saves pa-trons a tremendous amount of time in ac-cessing the libraries’ treasures. Subject-specialist librarians who can put their handson information without looking in any cata-log or index are invaluable. Patrons over theyears who have challenged me with hardquestions have helped make me a better li-brarian, able to find sources that didn’tcome to mind right away. I hope librarianskeep working as hard as they do to make re-sources like this one possible.

Laura Lynn Windsor

Introduction

Nature has given women so much powerthat the law has very wisely given themlittle.

—Samuel Johnson, 1892

Women as Natural HealersFrom the earliest of times, women havebeen the natural nurturers, healers, andsoothers of those in pain. Taking care of hus-bands, parents, children, or friends, theyhave been the tirelessly caring individuals,often charged by men to heal the sick in thehome. It was only natural that they eventu-ally desired more medical knowledge in or-der to do more, be more, and feel more con-fident in their endeavors.

In ancient times midwives were the norm,and for centuries distances betweenbirthing mothers and a traditional healthcare institution were far too great to evenconsider another health care provider. Thissituation changed very slowly; even today,the majority of the world’s population livein rural areas. Only in the eighteenth cen-tury, when physicians began to feel threat-ened by midwives, did laws requiring li-censes and the regulation of midwives’activities become a reality.

With these requirements came women’srealization that they could advance beyondthe restrictions with a better education.They encountered many problems with ob-taining the education they were suddenlyrequired to have, but they persevered.

Women’s Leadership AbilitiesThose of us who look at the history ofwomen in medicine see that women havealso been demonstrating leadership abilities

for centuries. King Louis XV respected An-gelique du Coudray enough to commissionher in 1759 to train midwives all overFrance, Florence Nightingale organizedmedical staff in order to treat soldiers on thebattlefields of Scutari during the CrimeanWar, and Elsie Inglis organized and ran theScottish Women’s Hospitals in World War I.

Many of the women in this volume at-tained leadership abilities through dealingwith the challenges of their profession.Nancy Dickey, the first female president ofthe AMA; Antonia Novello, who becamethe first female surgeon general of theUnited States; and Gro Harlem Brundtband,who is the first woman to head the WorldHealth Organization (WHO), are outstand-ing examples of what women have come toachieve.

Social and Economic Forces Affecting Women’s CareersFrom the earliest times to the present, forcesbesides gender have played a part inwomen’s long struggle to succeed. In rela-tively recent times, increased awareness ofsocial problems and public health—anawareness in large part brought about bywomen in the medical field—have createdopportunities for women to work in theirchosen professions.

As industrialists built factories that trans-formed working conditions, crime, poverty,pollution, and disease grew with the furtherexpansion of large urban areas. Social-set-tlement houses such as Toynbee Hall inLondon, Hull House in Chicago, and theHenry Street settlement in New York Citywere the beginnings of social activism by

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both men and women. Women physiciansand nurses such as Alice Hamilton and Lil-lian Wald saw the tremendous needs of thepoor and put their training, care, and con-cern into action. Wald, who founded theHenry Street Settlement, also formed theVisiting Nurses Service in New York City,which served as a model for many othercities. Both Hamilton and Wald believedthat each person had a right to adequate nu-trition, housing, and working conditions.Like many other women who had gained amedical education, they utilized their skillsto serve the poor and make cities betterplaces for the growing urban population.“Women volunteers saved the Americancity at the turn of the twentieth century byconverting religious doctrine and domesticideology into redemptive places that pro-duced social order at a critical moment inthe nation’s development” (Spain 2001, 237).

Influenced by Jane Addams, one of thefounders of Hull House in Chicago, Hamil-ton became a resident at Hull House formany years, tending to individuals as anurse, physician, baby-sitter, housekeeper,and teacher. She witnessed firsthand thehealth problems created by industry andauthored some of the first reports on the un-satisfactory working conditions for men,women, and children in factories. She lob-bied for occupational health and safety.With the sweeping social-settlement move-ment, many “educated middle-class womenwho joined the movement were given achance to move beyond the traditional con-fines of the home and to enter the workingworld in positions of leadership, achievinga level of equality with their male col-leagues” (Barbuto 1999, ix).

Even by the early twentieth century, themedical community was still hesitant to hirewomen physicians at hospitals and clinicsno matter how good their training was. Asthe government became involved in socialservices, regional and national public healthorganizations created jobs for women. Manywomen, such as Sara Josephine Baker, foundtheir calling in the public health sector.

As women moved into the workforce, theybecame empowered. They wanted the optionof working outside the home with equal pay

and the right to vote. They organized to gaina voice in a changing world. They formedclubs, societies, and regional and national or-ganizations to advance women’s status andto meet the need for social services. Religiousgroups also played a role in working to helpthe homeless and poor.

Since so many of the early female physi-cians were relegated to working with thepoor, they saw firsthand the abuse many in-dustrial workers, especially women andchildren, experienced. Their work to in-crease awareness led to labor unions thatworked for reforms in the length of theworkday, restrictions on child labor, andbetter working conditions.

Changing economies worked both forand against women in the workplace. Thedual-income family began to seem desirablein order to bring about better living condi-tions. However, many felt women were tak-ing jobs away from men, especially duringthe Depression in the United States. Thework women did during the war years asphysicians and nurses did not carry over topeacetime. They came home to their coun-tries and were not offered work.

In 1932 in the United States, the NationalEconomy Act limited federal civil service toone member of the family. Thus manywomen had to leave government jobs. InGreat Britain, the National Insurance Act re-duced women’s roles in the workplace.William Beveridge, the British economist,“was aware of the value of married women’sunpaid work, and wives and husbands weretreated differently under the National Insur-ance Act of 1946. Single women were treatedlike men, but married women were nor-mally exempted from the work related pro-visions and insured as housewives” (Siim2000, 93). Women physicians, despite theireducation and skill, had to play minimalroles when it came to working for a wage.

The birth-control movement also had alarge impact on women. As public healthnurses such as Margaret Sanger saw the tollfrequent childbirth was taking on mothers,they begin to feel that more informationabout sex education and contraception wasneeded. They fought on through numerousroadblocks in the way of legislation and so-

Introduction

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cietal resistance. The Comstock Act of 1873was a major setback for health careproviders wishing to provide birth control inthe United States, and birth control wasn’teven discussed in medical schools until1937. “In 1928, the timing of ovulation wasestablished medically, but the safe intervalfor intercourse was mistakenly understoodto include half the menstrual period” (CDC2000, 326). By 1933, however, family size haddeclined in the United States. When morewomen were able to learn about methods forlimiting childbirth, they realized a careerwas a viable option for them even if theyhad chosen to marry and have a family.

The Unrecognized Heroes—MenAn encyclopedia on women and medicinewould not be complete without a word aboutthe many men who have taken risks to men-tor women whose potential was evident andto encourage spouses, daughters, students,and colleagues to pursue what many of theirfriends felt was a waste of time. Society owesa debt to men such as Samuel Blackwell, whofelt his daughters should have the same goodeducation as his sons; Dr. William Osler, whoencouraged Maude Abbott even after shewas relegated to a museum of defectivehearts following the denial of a faculty posi-tion; and Dr. Alan Whipple, who encouragedVirginia Apgar to go into anesthesiology in-stead of surgery. Such men exercised a greatdeal of foresight and genuine concern.

Even male medical students had to adaptto situations that were uncomfortable. Un-like in many other professions infiltrated bywomen, males in medical education had todeal with sharing with women discussionsand demonstrations on topics consideredtaboo in mixed company: anatomy, repro-duction, sex. Some objected to the presenceof women in their institutions, but otherswere accepting, particularly in Europe,where many women sought additionaltraining after obtaining their degrees else-where. Emily Blackwell, Eva Salber, andMary Putnam Jacobi are just a few of thewomen who sought more clinical trainingafter their initial medical degree. They wereable to gain that experience in Europe.

Even if most men were unwilling to take

on the role of caregiver for their children, itis important to remember that manywomen did not accept men as adequate inthat role. “Not until the founding of the Na-tional Organization for Women in 1966 dida major group contend that men andwomen should share responsibility for paidwork, child rearing, and housework”(Burstein and Bricher 1997, 161). Acceptanceof men as caregivers required an adjustmentby both men and women.

More men have recognized the impor-tance of a woman’s role as wife, mother, andwage earner as living expenses have in-creased (Gabor 1995, 46). More are accept-ing of shared parental responsibilities. Inmany countries, government, educational,and corporate organizations are addressingthe importance of adequate childcare.

Women ExtraordinaireThe social, cultural, and legal problemswomen encountered in obtaining higher ed-ucation and medical training have been welldocumented over the past several decades.Many had to obtain a medical educationoutside their own country and learn in to-tally inadequate facilities and on the battle-field. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell andmany other early physicians served thepoor and homeless because no one believeda woman could do the job of a physician.Many early women physicians were rele-gated to nursing because no one would hirethem. May Edward Chinn performed biop-sies in secret in order to help diagnose tu-mors, and Mary Mahoney became a private-duty nurse because hospitals would not hireblack nurses in the 1870s.

These and other women who precededand followed them found opportunities tocontribute. Some, such as Elizabeth GarrettAnderson and Elizabeth Blackwell, workedwithin traditional arenas to further their ed-ucation and obtain their objectives. Others,such as Sophia Jex-Blake, fought the generalinjustice they accurately perceived or wentto extremes: James Barry impersonated aman for an entire lifetime in order to prac-tice her skills.

Over the years, nurses have soothed,washed, fed, visited, and cared for numer-

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ous individual patients in a day. Today, theyare expected to have the highest standardsand certifications. From the late nineteenthand early twentieth centuries, they haverisen from basic helpers to well-educatedprofessionals, thanks to the work of theearly pioneers in nursing education. LillianWald and Annie Goodrich were exceptionalprofessionals who raised public awarenessand the status of nurses.

Female physicians, nurses, and researchersare like other professionals in that they teachalong the way whether or not teaching wastheir initial objective. Those who see a needwithin the profession and have the organiza-tional and administrative skills take on a pri-mary role as educator. Elizabeth Blackwellfounded a hospital and medical college sothat other women physicians could gain clin-ical experience. Ann Preston, Emeline Cleve-land, and Margaret Craighill all contributedsubstantially to women’s medical education.Women desperately needed additional op-portunities during the past two centuries be-cause it was very difficult or impossible forthem to gain admission to male colleges,nurses were subject to higher expectationsand needed more rigorous training, and,most important, women needed the collec-tive voice that could be realized only if theywere a part of higher education and relatedprofessional organizations.

Both male and female medical missionar-ies are one of the most overlooked groups ofphysicians. These missionaries were boldand dedicated. Once educated, they workedwith limited medical facilities but in manyinstances obtained great success. Ida Scud-der founded the Vellore Hospital and Med-ical College, Catharine Mabie educated na-tives in the Congo on the importance ofgood hygiene, and Anna Dengal was tire-less in treating the poor in India. Societyowes an immeasurable debt to the womennurses, researchers, educators, and physi-cians in this volume. Frances Kelsey’s re-fusal to allow thalidomide on the drug mar-ket, Alice Hamilton’s copious statistics onworkers suffering from industrial pollution,and Dame Annie Jean Macnamara’s search

for another strain of polio all led to betterhealth and a better society.

Virginia Apgar’s score system for infantshas been in use for nearly fifty years. MaudeAbbott became the leading expert on congen-ital heart disease during her lifetime. Elsie In-glis and her fellow women physicians trav-eled around war-torn Europe to mend thewounded during World War I. AdelaideHautval treated sick Jewish women in Naziconcentration camps. He Manqiu used sticksand dirt because she didn’t have pencil andpaper and found her laboratory cadaver inthe field during the Red Army’s long marchin 1935. All these women had heart, determi-nation, character, and a desire to heal the sick.

References: Barbuto, Domenica M., Ameri-can Settlement Houses and Progressive SocialReform: An Encyclopedia of the American Settle-ment Movement, Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press(1999); Burstein, Paul, and Marie Bricher,“Problem Definition and Public Policy: Con-gressional Committees Confront Work, Fam-ily, and Gender, 1945–1990,” Social Forces76:1 (September 1997): 135–168; Centers forDisease Control (CDC), “Achievements inPublic Health, 1900–1999: Family Planning,JAMA 283, no. 3 (19 January 2000): 326ff.;Gabor, Andrea, “Married, with House-husband,” Working Woman 20:11 (November1995): 46–50; Johnson, Samuel, The Letters ofSamuel Johnson, with Mrs. Thrale’s GenuineLetters to Him, vol. 1, no. 157, Oxford: Claren-don Press (1952); Lorber, Judith, “WhyWomen Physicians Will Never Be TrueEquals in the American Medical Profession,”in Elianne Riska and Katarina Wegar, eds.,Gender, Work, and Medicine: Women and theMedical Division of Labour, London: Sage(1993); Siim, Birte, Gender and Citizenship:Politics and Agency in France, Britain, and Den-mark, New York: Cambridge UniversityPress (2000); Spain, Daphne, How WomenSaved the City, Minneapolis: University ofMinnesota Press (2001); Yedidia, Michael J.,and Janet Bickel, “Why Aren’t There MoreWomen Leaders in Academic Medicine? TheViews of Clinical Department Chairs,” Acad-emic Medicine 76, no. 5 (May 2001): 453–465.

A

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Abbott, Maude Elizabeth Seymour

1869–1940

Despite a private and public fight, MaudeAbbott was not allowed to attend McGillUniversity for medical study because of hergender. Nevertheless, she became one of theearliest experts in congenital heart disease,paving the way for future women medicalprofessionals in Canada.

She was born on March 18, 1869, at St. An-drews, near Montreal. Her father left thefamily before Maude was born, and hermother died from tuberculosis just sevenmonths after the birth. Maude’s grand-mother adopted and raised her and her sis-ter, Alice.

Her grandmother was of strong characterand had been through much grief. She hadlost all nine of her children early in theirlives, eight to tuberculosis. Her husbandalso predeceased her by several years. Sheeducated the girls at home during most oftheir early years; Maude had a great desireto attend school with other girls and a burn-ing need to learn, which was fulfilled whenshe attended high school.

Maude enrolled in McGill University on ascholarship and graduated with a B.A. in1890. By this time, she knew that she wantedto be a physician, but McGill refused to al-low a woman to enter its medical program.She fought this decision with letters to thefaculty and even in public, but to no avail.She settled on going to nearby Bishop’s Col-lege. Many students, as well as some profes-sors, resented a woman in their ranks, and

her willingness to work so hard was an irri-tation to some. Fellow students sometimeshid her case reports, and many studentseven applauded when professors an-nounced they had to attend meetings onkeeping women out of the college. However,she looked back with great appreciation onher days at Bishop, where she won the se-nior anatomy prize and the chancellor’sprize for her excellent work on the final ex-amination and where she obtained her M.D.

Upon graduation in 1894, she traveledabroad to work in various clinics in Vienna,Zurich, Edinburgh, and London, where sheworked with established physicians who

Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott (U.S. NationalLibrary of Medicine)

Abbott, Maude Elizabeth Seymour

2

came to appreciate her work. At this time,her ambition was to return to Montreal andobtain a faculty position at McGill.

Abbott’s first duties when she returned to Montreal were in the Royal Victoria Hos-pital. It was here that she began research in cardiology and pathology with Dr.Charles Martin and Dr. J. G. Adami, respec-tively. Soon thereafter, one of the most influ-ential men in her life, Dr. William Osler, en-couraged her to reorganize the pathologymuseum at McGill. This endeavor led to im-mense advancement in the medical knowl-edge of the heart.

Much of the pathology museum wasmade up of postmortem specimens, manyof which showed signs of cardiac defects.Abbott studied the various hearts and theirdefects and wrote a piece for Osler on con-genital heart disease. In this work, she spec-ified cyanotic and acyanotic categories, thena useful distinction.

At the same time, she began to be very in-volved in the overall operation of the mu-seum and in promoting the use of cadaversin anatomy classes in medical schools. Shecreated the International Association ofMedical Museums (now called the Interna-tional Academy of Pathology), an organiza-tion she remained active in for the nextthirty years.

In 1919 Abbott underwent successful sur-gery for an ovarian tumor. While continuingher work at the museum during World WarI, she took on the responsibility of editingthe Canadian Medical Association Journal. Af-ter Osler’s death in 1919 she began the mon-umental project of compiling a memorialbulletin of the International Association ofMedical Museums. That famous work, Bul-letin No. IX, eventually became known asthe Osler Memorial Volume, a very well-received book of over 600 pages that tooksix years to complete and contributed to theknowledge of heart disease.

She was now gaining respect for her sci-entific knowledge and diligence. She wasoffered a position at the University of Texasas an acting professor of pathology duringWorld War I and as an associate professorthereafter. However, she remained in Can-ada, as her loyalty was always with McGill.

Abbott earned only a small income in herposition at the museum and still longed fora faculty position. It wasn’t to come untilshe received an honorary L.L.D. fromMcGill in 1936. In the meantime, she haddone enough research to begin her monu-mental work, the Atlas of Congenital CardiacDisease.

Abbott’s Atlas, just over sixty pages, in-cluded excellent plates labeled clearly, acomprehensive index, diagrams inter-spersed throughout the work, explanationsof various heart problems, and acknowledg-ments of all who had contributed to theproject. She had accumulated much of theknowledge for this project through diagnos-ing heart specimens at the request of clini-cians all over the continent who recognizedher as the world authority on congenitalheart disease. Although Abbott tried to re-tain her faculty position beyond retirementage, McGill forced her to retire in 1936. Sub-sequently, her reputation in the medicalcommunity now secure, she lecturedaround the country. She received numerousawards and accommodations during herlifetime, including being named a fellow ofthe New York Academy of Medicine.

Abbott’s deep interest besides pathologywas medical history. She wrote on the his-tory of nursing, the history of medicine inQuebec, and the history of the medical fac-ulty at McGill. Abbott never married. Afterher grandmother died in 1890, her only fam-ily was her sister, Alice, who depended onMaude for financial support. In 1898, Alicecame down with diphtheria and lost muchof her mental capacity. Maude, typically un-selfish in all her relationships, tried in vari-ous ways to help her sister, but despite herefforts and an operation, Alice never recov-ered. Maude continued to care for her sister,planning outings when Alice was doingwell. They both lived in St. Andrews all oftheir lives.

Maude tended to be accident-prone. Al-though she had worn glasses since she wasa young girl, many of her close friends felther accidents were due to the fact that shewas very nearsighted and tended to walkwith her head down. In Montreal, she col-lided with an automobile and two street-

Acosta Sison, Honoria

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cars. In New York City, she was hit by a taxi.None of these accidents, however, causedher serious harm. Abbott died on September2, 1940, from a cerebral hemorrhage. Shepropelled the field of cardiology from thepathology table toward actual treatment forthe living.

References: Abbott, Maude E., Atlas of Con-genital Cardiac Disease, New York: AmericanHeart Association (1936); MacDermot,Hugh Ernest, Maude Abbott: A Memoir,Toronto: Macmillan (1941); Roland, CharlesG., “Maude Abbott, MD, ‘Madonna of theHeart,’” Medical and Pediatric Oncology 35,no. 1 (July 2000): 64–65.

Abouchdid, Edma1909–1992

Edma Abouchdid was the first woman inLebanon to obtain a medical degree. Shefounded the Lebanese Medical Feminine As-sociation and was active in family planning.

Abouchdid was born in São Paulo, Brazil.She wanted to be a doctor at the age of fif-teen. Because girls at that time did not usu-ally seek higher education, she had to con-vince her father, also a school principal, thatshe should not follow the usual course ofwaiting for the appropriate suitor.

Abouchdid graduated from the AmericanUniversity in Beirut in medicine in 1931. Shewas the first Lebanese woman to do so.From 1936 to 1945 she worked at the RoyalHospital in Baghdad. From 1945 to 1948 shetraveled to the United States to do graduatework at Johns Hopkins, Duke, and Colum-bia. When she returned to her homeland,she joined the faculty of the American Uni-versity in Beirut as professor of clinical gy-necology and obstetrics.

There, she founded an infertility clinic aswell as the Lebanese Medical Feminine Asso-ciation. She received numerous awards, mostnotably the Medal of the Equestrian Order ofSaint Sepulchre of Jerusalem for chivalry,which had been reserved for male recipients.She served on many national and interna-tional committees and in 1969 founded theLebanese Family Planning Association.

Abouchdid lived during a time of tremen-dous change in Lebanon. Massive humanlosses during the Balkan Wars and WorldWar I pushed women into occupations thathad traditionally been dominated by men inAbouchdid’s region. During the two worldwars, women physicians with the AmericanWomen’s Hospital Service as well as withother Foreign Service initiatives worked inLebanon. Abouchdid attended a conferencein New York in 1953 and expressed grati-tude for the many American women physi-cians who had spent time in Lebanon work-ing and encouraging others who wanted toenter the profession. She died of heart fail-ure on October 11, 1992.

References: Jurdak, Hania, “The Late AdmaAbu Shdeed: AUB’s First Woman Doctor,”AUB Bulletin 35, no. 2 (March 1993): 12–13;Lovejoy, Esther Pohl, Women Doctors of theWorld, New York: Macmillan (1957); Who’sWho in Lebanon 1988–89, Beirut: Publitec(1988).

Acosta Sison, Honoria1888–1970

The first female physician in the Philip-pines, Honoria Acosta Sison was a specialistin obstetrics and gynecology at the Univer-sity of the Philippines. She educated manyin pelvimetry for Filipina women and intro-duced low cesarean section to the Philip-pines.

She was born on December 30, 1888, inCalasiao, Pangasinan. Her mother’s deathwhen she was only two years old resulted inher being raised by her father and grand-parents in Dagupan. She attended Santis-simo Rosario Convent in Lingayen for abrief period before attending a normalschool run by Americans. She was one ofonly 10 students out of 375 who passed thegovernment examination upon completinghigh school. Thus she was sent to the UnitedStates for further study in 1904. She went toPhiladelphia to attend Drexel Institute andBrown Preparatory School before enteringthe Women’s Medical College of Pennsylva-nia and graduating in 1909 with her M.D.

Alexander, Hattie Elizabeth

4

There, she worked for a year in the mater-nity hospital before returning to the Philip-pines to work.

In the Philippines, she worked as an as-sistant in obstetrics at St. Paul’s Hospital be-fore obtaining a position at the University ofthe Philippines in the department of obstet-rics and gynecology. Women were not wellaccepted in the field at this time, but AcostaSison persevered and eventually, in 1942,earned the rank of professor and head of thedepartment. (Her husband, Antonio Sison,served as dean of the College of Medicineand director of the Philippine General Hos-pital.) Like many women physicians, shemanaged the duties of career, wife, andmother. Two of her three children also be-came physicians.

Acosta Sison published extensively in thefield of obstetrics and gynecology and re-ceived many honors over the years, includ-ing a presidential medal for medical re-search. Ten years after her death in 1970, thePhilippines issued a stamp in her honor.

References: Agris, Joseph, “Honoria AcostaSison: Pioneer Gynecologist and Obstetri-cian,” Journal of Dermatologic Surgery andOncology 6, no. 3 (March 1980): 178; Kyle,Robert A., et al., “Honoria Acosta-Sison,”JAMA 246, no. 11 (11 September 1981): 1191;Lovejoy, Esther Pohl, Women Doctors of theWorld, New York: Macmillan (1957).

Alexander, Hattie Elizabeth1901–1968

Hattie Alexander was a pediatrician and mi-crobiologist who contributed to loweringthe number of infant deaths from influenzalmeningitis. She was also one of the first re-searchers to discover that bacteria can be re-sistant to antibiotics and thus contributed tothe theory that DNA held the key to manydiseases.

Alexander was born on April 5, 1901, inBaltimore, Maryland, to William BainAlexander and Elsie May Townsend. Shewas only an average student while attend-ing Western High School in Baltimore butwent on to attend Goucher College in Tow-

son, Maryland. Alexander seemed muchmore interested in sports than studies whilethere but did study bacteriology and physi-ology and graduated with an A.B. degree in1923. Her degree enabled her to obtain a jobwith the U.S. Public Health Service as a bac-teriologist. Three years later she workedwith the Maryland Public Health Service.The experience gained in these two jobsprompted her to apply for admission tomedical school at Johns Hopkins. There,more mature and focused, she was an excel-lent student, obtaining her M.D. degree in1930.

Her first internship was in pediatrics atJohns Hopkins Hospital. The second was atBabies Hospital, which was part of Colum-bia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Duringthese internships she witnessed the devas-tating effects of bacterial meningitis, whichseemed to afflict so many infants and was atthe time fatal.

In searching for a better treatment for in-fluenzal meningitis, a common form of bac-terial meningitis, Alexander began to buildon a successful antipneumonia serum de-veloped at the Rockefeller Institute by Ken-neth Goodner and Frank Horsfall Jr. By the1940s the mortality rate for bacterial menin-gitis had dropped significantly in theUnited States. She continued her work, ex-perimenting with combinations of anti-serums, sulfa drugs, and eventually antibi-otics, finding a cocktail that nearlyeliminated fatalities.

Alexander was one of the first to discoverthat some strains of bacteria seemed resis-tant to treatment. With this realization, shefocused on the genetic makeup of bacteriaand its importance in understanding resis-tance to antibiotics. Her findings alsostrengthened the theory that DNA held thekey to so many diseases. Later she turnedher attention to viruses, particularly the po-liovirus and its RNA, and assisted others atColumbia in this research.

Alexander published numerous papersand received much recognition over theyears. She was the first woman to be electedpresident of the American Pediatric Society.Her skepticism as a teacher, along with herstern, formal manner and insistence on ac-

Alvord, Lori Arviso

5

curacy, challenged residents and studentsalike. Dr. Alexander underwent a radicalmastectomy late in life and later died fromliver cancer on June 24, 1968, in New YorkCity.

References: American National Biography,New York: Oxford University Press (1999);Christy, Nicholas P., “Hattie E. Alexander1901–1968,” Journal of the College of Physiciansand Surgeons of Columbia University (onlinejournal) 17, no. 2 (Spring 1997), http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/newsjournal/archives/jour_v17n2_0002.html (accessedMay 19, 2002); McIntosh, Rustin, “HattieAlexander,” Pediatrics 42, no. 3 (September1968): 544.

Ali, Safiehca. 1900–?

Very little is known about Safieh Ali. Shewas born in Turkey, educated in Germany,and was the first female doctor in her coun-try. Although Ali was unable to receivemedical training in Turkey because womenwere not allowed in medical school at thetime she pursued her training, she appar-ently was one of the first women to benefitfrom the Turkish reforms of the 1920s and1930s to stimulate economic growth. Im-proving women’s education played a partin this program. Soon after the reforms inthe country started, the medical school atthe University of Istanbul allowed womento enter.

In 1924, Ali attended the 1924 LondonConference of the Medical Women’s Inter-national Association. As the first femalephysician from Turkey, she attracted muchattention from the press and from very well-known women physicians of the time whoalso attended the conference.

References: Lovejoy, Esther Pohl, WomenDoctors of the World, New York: Macmillan(1957); “Medical Women’s International As-sociation,” London Times (15 July 1924): 17f.

Alvord, Lori Arviso1959–

The first Navajo female surgeon, LoriAlvord was born as Janette Lorraine Cuppin Tacoma, Washington. Her young motherand father raised her and her two youngersisters on a Navajo reservation in New Mex-ico. They lived in poverty with most in thecommunity speaking only their nativetongue. Lori felt she didn’t quite belong be-cause her mother was white and her fatherwas a full-blooded Navajo.

She did well in high school and wanted toattend college:

My college plans were modest; Iassumed I would attend a nearby stateschool. But then I happened to meetanother Navajo student who wasattending Princeton. I had heard ofPrinceton but had no idea where itwas. I asked him how many Indianswere there. He replied, “Five.” Icouldn’t even imagine a place withonly five Indians, since our town was98 percent Indian. Then he mentionedDartmouth, which had about fiftyIndians on campus, and I felt a littlebetter. Ivy League was a term I hadheard, but I had no concept of itsmeaning. No one from my high schoolhad ever attended an Ivy Leaguecollege. At my request, my high schoolcounselor gave me the applications forall the Ivy League schools, but I onlycompleted Dartmouth’s because Iknew there were fifty Indians there.(Alvord 1999, 26)

She was accepted at Dartmouth and grad-uated cum laude in 1979. After looking forwork in New Mexico, she decided to pursueher fascination with the human body. Sheattended Stanford and obtained her medicaldegree in 1985. She then went to New Mex-ico and served Native Americans as aphysician and surgeon at the Gallup IndianMedical Center.

Alvord is currently a professor of surgeryand the associate dean for student and mi-nority affairs at Dartmouth’s Medical

American Medical Women’s Association

6

School. As an educator and physician, shestrives to incorporate Navajo ways of heal-ing into Western medicine, believing thatcaring, culture, and tradition have a place inthe healing process. “As a physician,teacher, and mother, she hopes to weave to-gether two worlds that have so much to of-fer each other” (Mangan 1999, A12).

She married Jon Alvord and changed hername to her grandmother’s maiden name ofArviso, thus becoming Lori Arviso Alvord.She has two children.

References: Alvord, Lori Arviso, “NavajoSurgeon Combines Approaches,” HealthProgress 80, no. 1 (January–February 1999):26; Alvord, Lori Arviso, and Elizabeth Co-hen Van Pelt, The Scalpel and the Silver Bear,New York: Bantam Books (1999); Mangan,Katherine S., “Enlisting the Spirit in MedicalTreatment,” Chronicle of Higher Education 45,no. 42 (25 June 1999): A12.

American Medical Women’s Association

1915–

The American Medical Women’s Associa-tion (AMWA; known as the MWNA, Med-ical Women’s National Association, until1937) was founded in 1915. Even though theAmerican Medical Association seated itsfirst woman in the same year, many womenphysicians felt that a male-dominated orga-nization would not address their concerns.They established the AMWA to share thesemutual concerns and to learn from one an-other. Also, since many women physiciansof the time worked in isolation, the organi-zation would serve to draw women doctorsinto the larger medical community and togive them a voice in this community. BerthaVan Hoosen was the AMWA’s first presi-dent. The organization did not include mi-norities and medical students until after1940.

In June 1917, the AMWA formed the WarService Committee, which operated as theAmerican Women’s Hospital Service. Al-though the War Department refused the or-

ganization’s request to allow women physi-cians, the American Red Cross did acceptthe offer of assistance. Thus the AMWA’s in-volvement in caring for civilian casualties ofwar abroad became indispensable.

Women missionaries and others workingabroad in the aftermath of World War Ialerted the organization to the enormousneed for physicians in many parts of theworld. The AMWA’s physicians traveledabroad and set up clinics and hospitals,many in cooperation with U.S. agencies andwith foreign aid agencies overburdenedwith providing medical care to those inneed.

During the Great Depression in the early1930s, the AMWA helped with caring for thesick and underfed in the United States. Italso set up care units for hurricane victimsin Florida and health care, including educa-tion, for pregnant women in rural areas ofthe Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, andVirginia. Many qualified male physiciansjoined it in these efforts.

In 1940 the AMWA tried once again togain commissions for female physicians, butneither the AMA nor the army and navysurgeon general supported the change. In1943, the demand for physicians was sooverwhelming because of World War II thatobjections were withdrawn. Dr. MargaretCraighill was the first woman to receive acommission. She joined the Army MedicalCorps as a major on April 16.

Today, the AMWA focuses on varied is-sues ranging from funding for female med-ical students to public health care in ruralareas. It continues to play a major role inpromoting women as physicians world-wide.

See also: American Women’s Hospitals;Craighill, Margaret D.; Van Hoosen, BerthaReferences: Lovejoy, Esther Pohl, WomenPhysicians and Surgeons: National and Interna-tional Organizations, Livingston, NY: Liv-ingston Press (1939); More, Ellen Singer,Restoring the Balance: Women Physicians andthe Profession of Medicine, 1850–1995, Cam-bridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1999).

Andersen, Dorothy Hansine

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American Women’s Hospitals1917–

Created by the American Medical Women’sAssociation in 1917, American Women’sHospitals (AWH) provided care for numer-ous wounded civilians and soldiers duringWorld War I. Women physicians concernedabout the overwhelming casualties sus-tained by the United States and its alliesnow had a way to contribute to care for thesick and wounded on the battlefront.

Despite the organization’s early financialchallenges, over 1,000 women physiciansregistered for service before the end of theyear. With help from the American Commit-tee for Devastated France, the AWH estab-lished its first hospital on July 28, 1918, inthe village of Neufmoutiers, Seine-et-Marne. The hospital treated both civiliansand soldiers. Well after the war, hospitalsand their staffs were still desperatelyneeded in some parts of the world to copewith widespread disease.

In 1923, Greece experienced a crisis asrefugees with typhus and smallpox pouredinto the country. Greece asked for help fromthe AWH, which set up a quarantine stationand delousing plant on Macronissi Islandnear the coast of Greece. There, the AWHtreated over 10,000 refugees. The organiza-tion is currently associated with the Ameri-can Medical Women’s Association and op-erates nine clinics in the United States andabroad.

References: Lovejoy, Esther Pohl, WomenPhysicians and Surgeons: National and Interna-tional Organizations, Livingston, NY: Liv-ingston Press (1939).

Andersen, Dorothy Hansine1901–1963

Dorothy Andersen identified cystic fibrosisas a disease in 1935. After completing an in-ternship in surgery in Rochester, New York,at Strong Memorial Hospital, she was un-able to obtain a residency in her preferredfield, surgery and pathology. Thus her dis-covery was the result of being forced be-

cause of her gender to turn her attention tomedical research.

Born in Asheville, North Carolina, onMay 15, 1901, Andersen was an only child.Her father, Hans Peter Andersen, workedfor the YMCA and died when she was thir-teen. Her mother, Mary Louise (Mason) An-dersen, died in 1920. By this time the familyhad moved to Johnsbury, Vermont, whereDorothy attended St. Johnsbury Academy.Dorothy worked her way through MountHolyoke College and upon graduationstarted medical school at Johns HopkinsSchool of Medicine. She received her M.D.in 1926.

Andersen taught for a year after gradua-tion at the Rochester School of Medicineand then interned in surgery at StrongMemorial Hospital. Unable to find employ-ment as a physician, she obtained a positionat Columbia University’s College of Physi-cians and Surgeons as an assistant in pathol-ogy. She later began a doctoral program andreceived her doctor of medical science de-gree in endocrinology.

In 1938 she published her research on cys-tic fibrosis, and this achievement launchedher into research related to this disease forthe next twenty-five years. In order to pur-sue this path, she obtained additional train-ing in pediatrics and chemistry, and ob-tained her doctorate in medical science fromColumbia University in 1935. Andersenserved Babies Hospital at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center as both apathologist and a pediatrician. She also con-tributed during her career to the field of car-diac abnormalities and embryology. Shewas asked to teach cardiology during WorldWar II, when physicians were becoming in-terested in open-heart surgery.

A determined and dedicated physician,Andersen sometimes irritated others by in-truding in areas where she was not an ex-pert. She was also seen as a bit sloppy in ap-pearance and was a chain smoker whorarely bothered to tap the ashes off her ciga-rettes. Her sense of humor and hard workwere, however, appreciated by many whoknew her.

Andersen never married. She underwentsurgery for lung cancer in 1962 and died

Anderson, Charlotte Morrison

8

from the disease on March 3, 1963. She isbest remembered for her work on cystic fi-brosis.

References: Damrosch, Douglas S., “Doro-thy Hansine Andersen,” Journal of Pediatrics65, no. 4 (October 1964): 477–479; McMur-ray, Emily J. Notable Twentieth-Century Scien-tists, Detroit: Gale (1995).

Anderson, Charlotte Morrison1915–

Charlotte Anderson was an Australianphysician and a pioneer in pediatric gas-troenterology. With the publication of Paedi-atric Gastroenterology in 1975, she establishedherself as a leading authority in the field.

Anderson was born on March 12, 1915.She received her early education at MontAlbert Central School and Tintern girls’grammar schools in Victoria. She worked asa resident biochemist for five years at theBaker Medical Research Institute before re-ceiving her medical degree from the Uni-versity of Melbourne in 1945. She laterworked as a resident medical officer at theRoyal Melbourne Hospital and the Birming-ham Children’s Hospital.

She was first offered a laboratory positionat the Royal Hospital for Women, where shehad worked with a rubella vaccine, but she“knew she did not wish to return to purescience and lose contact with sick people,particularly children. What she wanted wasthe opportunity to investigate disorders oflargely unknown cause in a clinical context”(Allen 1996, 40). She thus chose to work in achildren’s hospital.

Anderson served as professor of pedi-atrics and child health at the University ofBirmingham from 1968 to 1980, and from1982 until 1991 was a researcher at the Gas-troenterological Research Unit at PrincessMargaret Hospital for Children.

Her 1975 Paediatric Gastroenterology com-piled much research in the new specialty inone place in collaboration with numerousphysicians from various countries. The bookis highly informative with numerous dia-grams, photos, and extensive bibliographies.

Anderson never married. She is retiredand lives in Australia.

References: Allen, Nessy, “A Pioneer ofPaediatric Gastroenterology: The Career ofan Australian Woman Scientist,” HistoricalRecords of Australian Science 11, no. 1 (June1996): 35–50; Anderson, Charlotte M., andValerie Burke, eds., Paediatric Gastroenterol-ogy, Oxford: Blackwell Scientific (1975);Who’s Who in Australia, Melbourne: Informa-tion Australia (1998).

Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett1836–1917

Elizabeth Anderson was the first Britishwoman to become a physician. . . . She wasa pioneer in medical education for womenin England through founding a hospital,helping to found a medical school forwomen and serving as its dean, and becom-ing the first woman to be a member of theBritish Medical Association.

Born in London, Elizabeth, along with hersiblings, was soon moved to Aldeburgh,Suffolk, where her father, Newson Garrett,and mother, Louisa, raised a large family.Elizabeth was the second oldest of ten. Herolder sister was Louisa and after Elizabethcame Dunnell, who died at six months. Fol-lowing were Newson, Edmund, Alice,Agnes, Millicent, Sam, Josephine, andGeorge. Her father became a rather success-ful businessman and believed all his chil-dren should have an adequate education.

For a time their mother educated Louisaand Elizabeth; following that, according toElizabeth, was a rather boring ordeal with agoverness. By the time Elizabeth was thir-teen, her father had decided to send thegirls to the Boarding School for Ladies, runby Miss Louisa Browning.

Although Elizabeth at first preferredplaying outdoors to school, she learned tolove books and reading and became a verycapable writer.

From 1851 to 1857, she, with her sisterLouisa, helped at home and otherwise led arather carefree life. Elizabeth did continueto educate herself, focusing on arithmetic

Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett

9

and Latin and sometimes utilizing the helpof her brother Newton’s tutor. During thistime, Elizabeth became heavily influencedby other women, among them British suf-fragist Emily Davies, who felt that intelli-gent women should pursue careers. Louisamarried in 1857. Elizabeth thus took onmore responsibilities at home and becameeven more discontented.

In 1858 the Englishwoman’s Journal cameout and brought the organized women’smovement into her life. In the next year sheattended a lecture given by Dr. ElizabethBlackwell and met her later in the evening.Blackwell spoke of the needs of women andchildren; Elizabeth’s other mentor, Davies,had grown up as a clergyman’s daughter,seeing firsthand the conditions of tene-ments in industrial towns. She knewwomen were suffering because they couldnot dare ask a male physician to attend tothem. Elizabeth asked her father for finan-

cial support to study medicine, and heeventually agreed.

Since no British medical school acceptedwomen, Anderson first worked as a nurseat Middlesex Hospital to see if she was upto the task and to learn as much as possible.Her work led to an invitation to observepatients in the out-clinics of T. W. Nunn,the dean of the medical school at Univer-sity College. Some doctors, especially thehouse physician, Dr. Willis, were also will-ing to help her in private. She realized sheneeded more physics, chemistry, anatomy,and physiology and took a room to herselfat the hospital for intense reading andstudy.

During winter 1861 while making roundswith the medical students, Anderson an-swered a visiting physician’s question cor-rectly after none of the students responded.Soon thereafter, several students drew up apetition objecting to her admittance to theschool. They threatened to leave if she wasallowed to continue on with them in lecturesand rounds of the hospital. In spite of an of-fer from her parents to make an endowmentto the school for female applicants, the hos-pital decided against allowing women to at-tend hospital lectures in the future.

Feeling strongly that she should stay inEngland and open the doors of medical ed-ucation for British women, Elizabeth de-cided to study for the licentiate of the Soci-ety of Apothecaries (LSA), which did notstipulate in its charter that applicants had tobe male. After she obtained this degree, lessprestigious than the M.D., in 1865, the soci-ety changed its requirements, and Eliza-beth’s was the only woman’s name on itsmedical register for the next twelve years.

In 1866, Anderson opened a dispensaryfor women and children, filling a void inhealth care for the poverty stricken of thecity. No one really objected because acholera epidemic was spreading over thecity. Attitudes changed toward her over theyears, and when she obtained an M.D. de-gree from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1870,medical students cheered.

Elizabeth and James Skelton Andersondeveloped a strong, trusting relationshipwhile he ran her campaign for the School

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (U.S. National Libraryof Medicine)