US Η Blackwell, Elizabeth, M.D.

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
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Elizabeth Blackwell was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council.

Born: February 3, 1821

Birthplace: Bristol, England

Father: Samuel Blackwell 1790 – 1838
(Buried: St. Giles Churchyard, Matlock, England)​

Mother: Hannah Lane – 1838
(Buried: St. Giles Churchyard, Matlock, England)​

Husband: None

Adopted Children:

Katherine “Kitty” Barry 1848 – 1936​

Occupation before College:

Teacher at Cincinnati English and French Academy​
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1844: Teacher in Henderson, Kentucky​
Music Teacher at Academy in Asheville, North Carolina​
Teacher at Boarding House in Charleston, South Carolina​

Education:

1849: Graduated from Hobart College Medical School​
Attended La Maternite “lying – in” hospital in England​
1850: Attended St. Bartholomew Hospital attending lectures​

Occupation:

1849: Lost sight in left eye treating an infant with Ophthalmia neonatorum​
Medical Doctor in New York City, New York​
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1852: Lecturer in New York​
1853: Established Small dispensary near Tompkins Square​
1857: Founded New York infirmary for Women & Children​
1859: First female to have name entered on General Council’s medical register​

Civil War Career:

Strong Supporter of Abolition and Union Movement​
Organizer of Woman’s Central Relief Association​
Helped to train nurses for the Union relief​

Occupation after War:

1871: Co-Founder of National Health Society​
1874: Established Women’s Medical School of London​
1874 – 1877: Lecturer in midwifery Women’s Medical School​
1880 – 1895: Involved in Reform Movements​
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1895:
Published her autobiography Pioneer Work in opening the Medical Profession to Women
1907 – 1910: Suffered from Complete mental and physical disability due from falling down a flight of stairs​

Died: May 31, 1910

Place of Death: Hastings, England

Age at time of Death: 89 years old

Burial Place: Kilmun Parish Church & Cemetery, Kilmun, England

Elizabeth Blackwell was a British-American physician and first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Born near Bristol, England, Blackwell and her family moved to New York City when she was 11 years old, after a fire destroyed her father's business. The family moved to Jersey City, New Jersey (1835) and then to Cincinnati, Ohio (1838), where her father died not long after. To support the family, Blackwell and her mother and sisters opened a private school. Later, Blackwell accepted a teaching assignment in Kentucky, but bored with teaching and desiring to avoid marriage, she subsequently decided to pursue a career in medicine.

After privately studying with male doctors who supported her cause, Blackwell applied to medical schools throughout the northeastern United States, including Harvard, Yale, and Bowdoin. All of these institutions turned down her application. Finally, in 1848 Geneva College in west central New York accepted her as a student. While attending Geneva, Blackwell faced a difficult year at a school hostile to her presence, although she eventually earned the respect of her classmates and professors. A summer program in 1848 at the Philadelphia Hospital in Pennsylvania allowed her to practice medicine for the first time. The young physicians there were hostile to her, however, and offered her no assistance.
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Blackwell graduated from Geneva College in 1849 and soon after became a naturalized American citizen. She then left for England to continue her medical studies, ultimately spending time in Paris at the state-run La Maternité, where she completed a midwifery course. It was there that she contracted ophthalmia, an eye infection that left her blind in one eye, ending her plans to become a surgeon.

Blackwell returned to New York in 1851 but was unable to practice medicine for several years because no institution would hire her. During this period she adopted an orphan, Katharine (Kitty) Barry, who remained her lifelong companion. She also wrote and delivered a series of papers on the importance of good hygiene, which won her the support of The Society of Friends, a Quaker organization. The Quakers began referring patients to Blackwell, and her practice began to grow. Because no one would rent space to her for her practice, she purchased a house in a run-down section of New York and opened an office in 1853; four years later this one-room dispensary became the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. Her sister Emily, also a physician, and Dr. Marie Zakrzewska joined her in this endeavor.

In 1858 Blackwell returned to England to lecture and practice. One year later she became the first woman to have her name placed on the Medical Register of the United Kingdom. In 1859 Blackwell returned to New York. Shortly thereafter the Civil War began, temporarily halting her plans to open a women's medical college. This dream was finally realized in 1868 when the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary was established.

Blackwell returned to England in 1869, leaving the operation of the infirmary and college to her sister. She remained abroad for the rest of her life except for a visit in 1906 to the United States. In London, she continued her work as a physician and promoter of women's medical education. She helped establish the National Health Society in 1871. In 1875 she accepted a professorship of gynecology at the New Hospital (now called the Royal Free Hospital) of the London School of Medicine for Women.

Elizabeth Blackwell died in 1910, three years after a fall from which she never fully recovered.
 
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Lone Woman by Dorothy Clarke Wilson

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Lone Woman, America's First Female Physician is the inspiring story of Elizabeth Blackwell as she follows a tortuous path to become the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. Blackwell's interested in studying medicine evolved when a dying friend indicated her suffering would have been greatly eased by having a female doctor. Blackwell, given no hope by male physicians of becoming a physician studied on her own while applying to medical schools. She was consistently refused entrance. However, Geneva College (now Hobart College) put her application to a student vote. Thinking it a practical joke, the students unanimously agreed to admit Elizabeth. She graduated at the top of her class in 1849. Blackwell opened a practice in a small house in downtown New York City. She lived in the attic and treated patients in the lower rooms. Today it is called The New York Downtown Hospital and Blackwell's tradition of excellence in medical education and patient care is proudly continued. Blackwell became an advocate for social change by promulgating such unique ideas as the efficacy of fresh air and clean surroundings. Her riveting story demonstrates what can be accomplished with determination by one lone woman.


Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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