172 years ago, in January 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school and the first modern-day woman physician.
Elizabeth, who first worked as a teacher, was inspired to pursue medicine by a dying friend who believed she would have had better care from a female physician. Rejected everywhere she applied, she was ultimately admitted—almost as a joke—to Geneva College in New York.
During medical school, professors forced her to sit separately at lectures and often excluded her from labs, and local townspeople shunned her for defying her gender role. Dr. Blackwell graduated first in her class in 1849.
During her career, she championed the participation of women in the medical profession and emphasized preventive care and personal hygiene (noting that her male peers failed to wash their hands between patients). Among other accomplishments, Dr. Blackwell opened her own medical college for women: Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary. Her younger sister, Emily Blackwell, also became a physician and helped found the college. Dr. Blackwell received consulting assistance in the effort from Florence Nightingale.
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Stephanie Weiner
Director, Digital Strategy & Engagement
Association of American Medical Colleges
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