Actually, women have been excelling in the field of medicine for a very long time. What’s more, their ground-breaking work has inspired generations of women to pursue careers as doctors, surgeons, researchers, and more.
During 2017, the number of women enrolling in U.S. medical schools exceeded the number of men!
Here’s a brief look at some of the female pioneers who have paved the way for today’s scientists, physicians, and researchers.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)
In 1849, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. At the time, medical schools were not open to women. She was accepted in 1847 at the Geneva Medical School in New York only after the all-male student body voted to approve the admission of a woman as a joke, according to a biography at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895)
In 1864, became the first black woman to earn a medical degree in the United State. She was also one of the first black authors of a medical publication. A Book of Medical Discourses focused on medical care for women and children, according to the NIH.
Dr. Virginia Apgar (1909-1974)
In 1952 created the Apgar score, the first standardized tool to evaluate the newborn. It’s the gold standard to test a newborn’s health and guide any intervention the baby might need. Apgar also was the first woman to become full professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1949, the NIH notes.
Dr. Audrey Evans (1925-)
A pioneer in the study and treatment of childhood cancers—notably neuroblastoma—who in 1974 co-founded the original Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, providing a place to stay for families of children receiving cancer treatment, according to Ronald McDonald House histories. In the 1980s, she co-founded the Ronald McDonald Camp for children with cancer.
Dr. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi (1947-)
Won the 2008 Nobel medicine prize for discovering HIV in 1983. She is a virologist at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, according to the Nobel Prize organization.
Dr. Regina Benjamin (1956-)
The former U.S. surgeon general founded a rural health clinic in Alabama that kept running despite two hurricanes and a fire, according to Woman’s Day.