Elizabeth Blackwell
Personal Information
Born: 1821
Died: 1910
Country of Birth: Great Britain
Nationality: Great Britain; USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Geneva Medical College, 1847-1849; St. Bartholomew s Hospital
Professional Life
Field of Study: Medicine
Institution/Corporation: none
Degrees & Memberships: Member: National Health Society 1871
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1974, commemorated on 18-cent US postage stamp; 1973, National Women s Hall of Fame; 2015, honored with a Google Doodle
Achievements: 1st female to obtain a medical degree in US, 1849; 1st female on the Medical Register of the Medical Council for UK, 1859; 1868, opened her own medical college for women in NY; 1857, opened the NY Infirmary for Indigent Women & Children with sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell & Dr. Marie Zakrzewska; during the Civil War, she & Emily trained nurses for the Union Army;1871, co-founded the National Health Society; 1861, helped establish the US Sanitary Commission; co-founded Women s Central Association of Relief during the Civil War; her thesis was the 1st medical article published by a female in the US; 1874, helped found the London School of Medicine for Women with Sophia Jex-Blake, 1st female medical schhool in UK
1st female to earn a medical degree in the US
1st female on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the UK
Pioneer in promoting education for women in medicine
Was a teacher but became a doctor after a friend fell ill & remarked she might not have suffered so much if her doctor was female
Was rejected from every medical school she applied to with the exception of Geneva Medical college in NY after the male students voted for her admission as a joke
Her thesis on typhoid fever published in 1849 was the 1st medical article published by a female student in the US
With her sister, Emily, founded the NY Infirmary for Women & children in 1857
1874, helped found the London School of Medicine for Women
Organized nurses during the American Civil War
Her sister Emily was the 2nd female in US to obtain an MD
1849, while treating an infant with opthalmia neonatorum she was accidentally squirted with some contaminated fluid into her left eye, contracted the infection, losing sight in the eye which subsequently had to be removed & ended her intention of becoming a surgeon
In 1856, adopted Katherine "Kitty" Barry (1848-1936) an Irish orphan & raised her as a half-servant, half-daughter