Mark Hudak MD

February 3rd was National Women Physicians Day. In recognizing this day, the Section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine wishes to reflect upon the origins of women in medicine and to appreciate the tremendous and ever-increasing contributions made by our women physicians.

This date honors the 1821 birthday of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman who graduated from medical school in the United States. Dr. Blackwell was born in Bristol, England. She and her family emigrated to the US in 1832 to seek better opportunities and to leave an environment that was inimical to the family’s liberal social and religious beliefs (her father became an active abolitionist before he died in 1838). A young Elizabeth decided, despite much advice to the contrary, to seek entry into medical school. It was not an easy road from the beginning. She applied to and received rejections from 29 medical schools before her admission to Geneva Medical College in 1847. [Historical note: Geneva Medical College was founded in 1834 in Syracuse, NY. Geneva College is now the Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The Medical College became part of Syracuse University in 1871. The State University of New York at Syracuse acquired it in 1950 for $1]. History relates that the medical faculty, not in favor of her admission but at the same time reluctant to make that decision, transferred the question to its 150 male medical students. The students voted to accept her; some accounts relate that the students believed the faculty made the request in jest. I am sure that when she graduated f irst in her class in 1849 (medical training was much shorter then), she had made a powerful impression on the faculty and her fellow students! Shortly thereafter, she became the first licensed woman physician in the US.

After graduation, she returned to England and Paris with the hope of training more extensively in major hospitals of Europe. The only hospital that accepted her at the start was La Maternité in Paris, where she apprenticed in midwifery. Unfortunately, she developed “purulent ophthalmia” (see https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/449373 for an 1894 JAMA article about this condition) after performing a procedure on an infant. This caused unilateral blindness that ended her aspirations to become a surgeon. She then trained at St. Bartholomew’s in London. In 1851, she returned to New York City and focused on preventive care and hygiene. Dr. Blackwell opened a free clinic in 1853 that provided outpatient care to poor women and children. In keeping with her activist nature, in 1857, she closed her clinic to open the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children (which started the lineage for the New York University Downtown Hospital). In 1861, she helped organize the US Sanitary Commission with the support of President Abraham Lincoln to bring state-of-the-art hygienic medicine to battleground operating suites.

By the mid-1860s, a few medical schools had opened that only admitted women. Dr. Blackwell believed that women should receive medical training side-by-side with men. However, when one woman after another who trained at her Infirmary failed to gain entrance to medical school, reality set in, and she helped to found a women’s medical college based at the Infirmary. This school opened in 1868 with 15 students and 9 faculty, including her younger sister Emily, a Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women. In 1869, Dr. Blackwell returned to England as she had intended. She was the first woman physician listed on the British Medical Register. By the late 1870s, she had stopped practicing medicine due to poor health but remained active in women’s issues. She died in Hastings, England, on May 31st, 1910.

February 3rd was either the 4th or the 5th National Women Physicians Day, depending on how these days are counted. This Day was founded in 2016 by Physician Moms Group and Medelita (making this the 5th such day) but was not recognized “officially” by the Registrar at National Day Calendar until 2017 (which would make it the 4th day).

Because there are a finite 365 days on the annual calendar, most days are “named” for multiple people, events, or causes. So February 3rd is also known as “National ‘The Day the Music Died Day’” (to commemorate the deaths of rock ‘n roll icons Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and P. Richardson in a 1959 plane crash, as referenced in Don McLean’s American Pie); National Carrot Cake Day; National Football Hangovers Day (since 1967); and National Missing Persons Day. While not lessening the importance of the latter somber tragedy, the Section gives center stage to our women physicians on this day.

I reflect today back to my medical school years at Johns Hopkins. Hopkins opened its doors in 1893 to a class of 18, 3 of whom were women. I am guessing that my own class numbered about 130, perhaps 10 of whom were women. One might want to conclude that the inner city location of the medical campus and the urban unrest might have been impactful in this ratio; but 3 years later my wife’s class entered with only 5 women at a time when the city had calmed. Now, women comprise more than half the Hopkins class. I do remember well many of the inspirational and now legendary women physicians who came to eminence there – Dr. Helen Taussig and Dr. Katherine Neill (pediatric cardiology), Dr. Carol Johns (internal medicine), Dr. Catherine DeAngelis (general pediatrics), and Dr. Mary Betty Stevens (rheumatology).

Over the years, progress for women in medicine has continued but at too slow a pace; women have not yet achieved parity. There are still many disparities to correct within our profession related to perception, promotion, leadership, and compensation. These are especially important to address in Pediatrics, where the great majority of trainees are women physicians. We have a dynamic cadre of women neonatologists (Women in Neonatology) who are taking on these equity issues.

So congratulations to all of the women in the Section for having taken on the mantle of healing, and for the great work that you do every day to advance our many missions as physicians.

Let’s cheer for our women!

Mark Hudak MD Chair, AAP Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

References:

1. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005679734/
2. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/449373