Women Doctors in History and Now

Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn an MD degree in the United States in 1849. She was turned away by more than ten medical schools before being accepted at the Geneva Medical College in western New York.

In 1857 she co-founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. Later in 1867, she created the Woman’s Medical College of the New York infirmary, where she supported and encouraged women to pursue medical careers.

Although not a physician, Clara Barton is perhaps the best-known American woman in the medical world. Born in 1821, she founded the American Red Cross in 1881 after leaving her job to dedicate her time to bringing supplies and tending to wounded soldiers during the Civil War.

Before she left the Red Cross, Barton established the National First Aid Association of America. The organization helped raise awareness of the importance of emergency preparedness and created first aid kits.

The daughter of renowned publisher George Putman, Jacobi is a pioneer in the fight for women’s rights to education in the medical field.

She graduated with an MD from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1864. However, she was determined to receive a better education than that offered to her in the United States. So, she traveled to Paris and became the first woman accepted to study at the prestigious l’École de Médecine.

Upon her return, she argued for the coeducation of medical students, pointing out that the existing women’s medical schools did not provide the same clinical experience as major hospitals.

Later in 1872, Jacobi created the Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of Women to address inequities. During her career, she thought and wrote about different topics, including pediatrics, pathology, and neurology. Her work was so outstanding that she was the first woman accepted into the New York Academy of Medicine.

Antonia Novello was the first female and first Hispanic US Surgeon General.

After earning her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico, she worked in pediatrics but ultimately chose to leave because she found the work too heart-wrenching.

She pursued a public health career, working her way up at the National Institutes of Health before becoming US Surgeon General in 1990.

Throughout her career, Novello focused on protecting the young and the vulnerable, remaining committed to fighting against health inequities among the poor and minority groups.

Dr. Johns is a renowned pediatric emergency physician. She received her MD  and completed her pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

She later moved to Washington DC, and obtained a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s National Medical Center.

She was an attending physician and assistant division chief in the Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center at Children’s National for 15 years.

Dr. Johns is a regular contributor on the ABC show Good Morning America, and she’s also appeared as a medical advisor on CNN and the Discovery Channel.

Dr. Dickey grew up in Katy, Texas, near Houston. She earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from Stephen F. Austin University. Later, she received her MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Dr. Dickey was the first woman elected president of the American Medical Association (AMA). She was only 26 when she started her relationship with the organization as an elected member, the youngest person ever to hold that position.

She was president of the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center until 2012. In recent years she’s focused on health policy, developing AMA’s Patient Bill of Rights. In addition, she continues highlighting women’s importance in healthcare as she serves on the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the History of Women in History.

In 2010, Dr. Dickey was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.