Elizabeth - Blackwell

1. Elizabeth - Blackwell First Lady of Medical Doctorates By Amelia Brown

2. In the Beginning… • Born in England in 1821, Elizabeth Blackwell moved to America as a young child. • She was educated decently and worked as a teacher. • Finding this work “unpleasant and uninspiring” she desired another career!

3. A new career? • A sickly friend suggested she study to become a doctor because she thought that she would have been more comforted in her ill state with a female doctor • -This interested Elizabeth and she decided to pursue it against all odds • -What odds they were! She lacked the funds to pay for medical school, she needed a better basis of classical languages and scientific studies, and she required experience in the medical field.

4. Another step on the way to medical school • It so happened that all her needs were met in one man and his house • She “lived in a physician's household, where she received some medical training, the use of a medical library, and the opportunity to study Greek and Latin” • This was Elizabeth’s chance to conquer her goal, and there was only one last step • Now she needed to secure a position in a medical school! Can she do it?

5. Geneva Medical College • After applying to many of the top institutions and colleges, she finally got one positive answer in a stack of negative ones • This acceptance came from none other than the quaint Geneva Medical School in Geneva New York • “Geneva Medical College was one of the many small, short-lived medical schools that flourished in 19th-century America. Founded in 1835 in a small town at the foot of Seneca Lake in western New York State, by 1847 it had seven faculty members, a student body of about 150, and a new college building. To graduate, students took two 16-week courses of lectures, submitted a thesis, and took an oral exam. Nearly all the students came from the surrounding counties.”

7. The New GirlThe New Girl • In 1847 Elizabeth arrived at the Geneva medical School with a greeting neither impolite nor warm • Upon reception, the school immediately opposed her application but later reconsidered and let the student body vote. The vote was unanimous in her favor! But all the young men who voted for her did it in mocking!  • -"I had not the slightest idea of the commotion created by my appearance as a medical student in the little town. Very slowly I perceived that a doctor's wife at the table avoided any communication with me, and that as I walked backwards and forwards to college the ladies stopped to stare at me, as at a curious animal. I afterwards found that I had so shocked Geneva propriety that the theory was fully established either that I was a bad woman, whose designs would gradually become evident, or that, being insane, an outbreak of insanity would soon be apparent."

8. The townspeople thought she was crazy and women were shocked and appalled that a ladywould want to participate in surgeries or dissections not crocheting or primping Elizabeth was made fun of continually and was made to feel out of place She was advised to excuse herself from her anatomy class when reproduction was the topic since her presence might embarrass the male students or the professor!

9. The Outcast is Accepted Elizabeth’s perseverance and strength carried her through and she finally was accepted by all and regarded as an eager and serious student and a perfect lady to boot!

10. "November 22.--A trying day, and I feel almost worn out, though it was encouraging too, and in some measure a triumph; but 'tis a terrible ordeal! That dissection was just as much as I could bear. Some of the students blushed, some were hysterical, not one could keep in a smile ... My delicacy was certainly shocked, and yet the exhibition was in some sense ludicrous. I had to pinch my hand till the blood nearly came ... Dr. Webster, who had perhaps the most trying position, behaved admirably." (Diary, Nov. 22, 1847)

11. During break between her sessions at the Geneva Medical School, she worked at The Blockley Almshouse in Philadelphia • She was rejected here, socially, by all the male physicians, but continued to see many severely ill patients and treat their ailments which were usually forms of typhus • With this experience behind her, she developed her thesis, which was published in the Buffalo Medical Journal

12. Elizabeth Graduates first in her class

13. Life after School…. • 1852 she published The Laws of Life, with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls, in 1878, Counsel to parents on the Moral Education of Their Children, and in 1884, The Human Element in Sex among over 15 other pamphlets and books • In1853 she opened a dispensary in NYC • She founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857 • To continue the tradition she started, she established the Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary in 1868!

15. A Medical Pioneer • Elizabeth Blackwell was an incredible figure who fought her way to the top and followed through with her goal • She has inspired the million of females in the medical field in the past, present, and future

16. Bibliography -Shearer, Benjamin F., Shearer, Barbara S. Notable Women in the life Sciences. London: Greenwood Press, 1996. 31-36. -"Celebrating 150 Years of Women in Medicine: The Legacy of Elizabeth Blackwell." State University of New York Upstate Medical University Alumni Journal. 19 November 20, 2003. -Ph.D., M.L.S., Eric v. d. Luft. “This is an online version of an exhibit held at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.” National Library of Medicine. 18 November 2003 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/blackwell/college_life.html