Elizabeth Blackwell: The First Modern Female Physician
Elizabeth Blackwell, born in England in 1821, was the first woman in the US to graduate with a degree in medicine.
The sister of another pioneering female physician, Emily Blackwell, she emigrated to the United States at the age of eleven and decided to study medicine rather than marry.
Most major medical schools rejected her, but eventually she was admitted to Geneva College in New York.
Ostracized by her male colleagues initially, she soon earned their respect. After graduating in 1849, she found herself barred from practicing in both American and European hospitals.
Elizabeth set up a private practice in New York and founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. She began lecturing on personal hygiene as a means of combating disease.
She also founded the Women’s Medical College of New York.
Elizabeth returned to the United Kingdom in 1871 and was named chair of the gynecology department at the London School of Medicine for Women — a real feat for a person who had to fight for the right even to train as a doctor!
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