Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman awarded the MD degree in the United States. She opened up a small dispensary of her own in a slum district, and in 1859 the now greatly enlarged dispensary was incorporated as the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. By 1868, after consultation with Florence Nightingale, she was able to open up the Woman’s Medical College at the infirmary, ...