Changing the Face of Medicine: Changing the Way We Look at the History of Medical Science

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Photo: Nina Starr Braunwald, M.D., M.S., shown in this 1960 photo, was one of the first women to train as a general surgeon at New York's Bellevue Hospital. A pioneer in the field of heart surgery, she led the team that was the first to implant a prosthetic heart valve, which she also designed. Credit: Eugene Braunwald, M.D.

It may seem hard to believe now, but for a long time women were not allowed access to medical education. Women who wanted to become doctors were discouraged by their friends and family, and those who fought their way into a medical college encountered open discrimination from the male students and faculty. However, women have triumphed to become innovators in the field of medical science.

Starting at the Beginning

In Elizabeth Blackwell’s letter of admission to Geneva Medical College she argued that she should be permitted to attend medical school because, with or without a degree, as a woman she was already accustomed to dealing with sickness in the home. The faculty responded by asking the exclusively male student body to vote on the matter. Never dreaming that Blackwell would actually be admitted, the students voted ‘yes’ for a practical joke.

In the end the joke was on them. Blackwell became the first female doctor in America when she graduated from Geneva in 1849.

Though Blackwell’s argument that women are suited to the medical profession because they are innately more nurturing than men is now considered outdated, her matriculation was a milestone in the history of female medical professions. She set a standard that was followed by Marie Zakrzewska, founder of the first hospital in Boston run by women, and Mary Putnam Jacobi, who in 1872 became the first woman elected to the Academy of Medicine.

These nineteenth-century women fought against a majority opinion which held that education would ruin their fragile female constitutions. They were polite revolutionaries, well-dressed rebels who fought for what they believed. However, there were other women who faced a different sort of prejudice in their quest to become doctors.

Fighting Two Battles At Once

In 1863 Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African-American woman to hold a medical degree. Little else is known about her. There is not even a picture to commemorate her remarkable achievement. She has faded into history.

Though Crumpler herself may be gone, her fight has not been forgotten. African-American women faced both racism and sexism in their journey to establish themselves in the medical field.

For example, Edith Irby Jones, the first black student to attend the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, was permitted to attend classes with white students but was forced to use a segregated dining room. She fought against prejudice to become in 1985 the first female president of the National Medical Association. An active member of the NAACP, she continues to help and inspire African-American women across the nation.

Continuing to Learn

Whether you are considering a career in medicine or just want to know more about these amazing women and their colleagues, you are invited to experience Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians at your local library. This traveling exhibit features the stories of female physicians from the beginning of their entry into medical field to the present day.

To learn more, log on to the National Library of Medicine website. Then ask your local librarian or check with the exhibit itinerary to see if this program is coming to a library near you.

Changing the Face of Medicine is touring more than 80 libraries across the country. It was developed by the Exhibition Program of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine in collaboration with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. This exhibition has been made possible by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health. The American Medical Women’s Association provided additional support.

Resources

Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue
by Danielle Ofri
Ofri’s memoir of her transition from student to doctor at Bellevue, the oldest public hospital in the country.

The Scalpel and the Silver Bear
by Lori Arviso Alvord and Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt
Alvord, believed to be the first Navajo woman to become a surgeon, tells her life story and describes the culture of her people and how she combines yet keeps distinct Navajo medical ways and Western medicine.

Mary Edwards Walker: Above and Beyond
by Dale L. Walker
A biography of Walker, the only female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and a doctor, women’s rights activist, and opponent of what she considered rampant and unnecessary amputation during the Civil War.