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Elizabeth Blackwell
- Became the first woman doctor in the United States after graduating from Geneva Medical College in New York in January 1849
- Co-founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children
- Got into medicine because her dying friend said she would have been spared suffering if her doctor had been a woman https://www.medicaldaily.com/most-influential-women-medicine-past-present-270560
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Florence Nightingale
- Led the first official team of British military nurses to Turkey during the Crimean War,
- More soldiers were dying from the disease than wounds from the war and she reported back to the army medical services on how to reduce avoidable deaths Nicknamed ‘the Lady with the Lamp’ for making night rounds tending to the wounded and sick soldiers
- After the war, she established a permanent military nursing service https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/4/
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Clara Barton
During the American Civil War (1861-65) she distributed medical supplies and worked near the front lines treating both Union and Confederate men.
Was given the nickname ‘Angel of the Battlefield’
After the war she ran the Office of Missing Soldiers, helping thousands of families locate missing relatives and rebury the dead in marked graves
In 1881 she created the American Red Cross, serving as its president until 1904
https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/4/ -
Rebecca Lee Crumpler
- The first African-American doctor -Earned her medical degree at what is now Boston University in 1864 -Practiced in Boston then moved to Richmond, Va., after the Civil War period, where she cared for freed slaves who did not have access to medical care. -Was also one of the first African-Americans to publish a medical book which was known as the Book of Medical Discourses https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/4/
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Dr Jane Cook Wright
Known for her treatments for both breast and skin cancer
Published more than 100 papers on cancer chemotherapeutics
Led teams of cancer researchers to Africa, China, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union
One of the seven founders of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
First woman to be elected president of the New York Cancer Society
Was the highest ranked African American physician at a medical college in 1967
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/5-influential-female-doctors/ -
Gertrude Belle Elion
Chemist who developed Purinethol which was the first major drug used to fight leukemia
Inspired to become a chemist after her grandfather died from cancer, and worked to find its cure, ultimately
Developed about 45 treatments to help the immune system fight cancer
Won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988
https://www.medicaldaily.com/most-influential-women-medicine-past-present-270560 -
Dr. Susan Love
An American surgeon who is an author and an advocate for preventive breast cancer research
She founded the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation in 1983
Founded The Army of WomenProgram
Founded the Health of Women Study
She herself was diagnosed with cancer which has inspired her efforts for advocating for better attention to be paid to researchers working to find cancer cures and patients of the disease
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/5-influential-female-doctors/ -
Dr. Helen Mayo
Doctor and medical educator from Adelaide, Australia
known for helping curb the high infant mortality rate in South Australia
Founded the first infant-mother health association in the area known as the School of Mothers in Adelaide
Was the first woman in Australia to be elected to a university council
She founded the Adelaide Lyceum Club
Crucial to the development of South
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/5-influential-female-doctors/ -
Dr. Anthonia Novello
First woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General in the US from 1990 to 1993
Was vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commission Corps and Commissioner of Health for the State of New York
She’s responsible for creating the Healthy Children Ready to Learn Initiative, and was heavily involved in promoting the immunization of children
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/5-influential-female-doctors/ -
Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta’s cancerous cervical cells removed during a procedure named HeLa, Her cells (HeLa) became study material which contributed to the development of medicines for polio, Parkinson disease, and leukemia
In the 21st century, Henrietta’s case was important to the debate surrounding informed consent from patients for the extraction and use of cells in research
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henrietta-Lacks
