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Women In Health History

© Gretchen Malik

From early work with radiation to the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS, women have often been in the forefront of medicine. We have contributed in labs, interacted with patients, taught as teachers, and spoke as public servants.

As we approach the new millenium, the celebration of achievements made by women throughout the century are more important that ever. Without these women taking that first step, other women would not have had the courage to do the same...and knowing this has made it easier for us to teach our daughters, granddaughters, and future generations that anything is possible.

The Hospital, is the first of this four-part article. The remaining sections will cover The Lab, The Classroom, and Public Service.

Women In Health History - History

In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell met the goal of committing "heresy with intelligence" by becoming the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree. She attended Geneva Medical College in upstate New York. Her sister Emily also became a doctor, and together they trained nurses during the Civil War. Later, they established a medical school for women, the New York Informary, which received accreditation in 1864.

Helen Brooke Taussig, another outstanding women in health history co-invented a surgical procedure to correct a congenital heart defect that causes "blue baby" syndrome. Her procedure was first used in 1944.

Continuing her drive for better health, Ms. Taussig in 1961 played a key role in preventing the anti-nausea drug thalidomide (a drug given to pregnant women and subsequently found to cause an elevated level of birth defects among babies in England and Germany) from being sold in the United States. She was also the first female president of the American Heart Association, received a United States Medal of Freedom and France's Legion d'Honneur.

Another women dedicated to improving the health of babies, Virginia Apgar, in 1952 created a scoring system to evaluate a newborn baby's condition immediately after delivery. This system was used to correct pulmonary and circulatory problems. Ms. Apgar, an anesthesiologist who attended over 17,000 deliveries, devised this test to focus more attention on the babies who were usually sent to the nursery immediately after birth.

And besides this achievement which is used today, Ms. Apgar was also known as the first woman to receive a full professorship at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Last, but definitely not least, Janet Travell made history in 1961 when John F. Kennedy appointed her as the first female personal physician to the President. She also developed a pain treatment called Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy, which she used to treat President Kennedy's persistent back pain.

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