Emily Blackwell

Emily Blackwell (1826–1910) was the second woman to earn a medical degree at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and the third woman to earn a medical degree in the United States.

Biography

Blackwell was born on October 8 1826 in Bristol, England. In 1832 the family emigrated to the U.S., and in 1837 settled near Cincinnati, Ohio. Inspired by the example of her older sister, Elizabeth, she studied medicine, earning her degree in 1854.

In 1857 the Blackwell sisters and Marie Zakrzewska established the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. From the beginning Emily took responsibility for management of the infirmary and in large part for the raising of funds.

For the next forty years she managed the infirmary, overseeing surgery, nursing, and bookkeeping. Blackwell traveled to Albany to convince the legislature to provide the hospital with funds that would ensure long-term financial stability. She transformed an institution housed in a rented, sixteen-room house into a fully fledged hospital. By 1874 the infirmary served over 7,000 patients annually.

During the American Civil War Emily helped organize the Women's Central Association of Relief, which selected and trained nurses for service in the war. Emily, along with Elizabeth Blackwell and Mary Livermore, also played an important role in the development of the United States Sanitary Commission.

After the war, in 1868 the Blackwell sisters established the Women's Medical College in New York. Emily became professor of obstetrics and, in 1869, when Elizabeth Blackwell moved to London to help form the London School of Medicine for Women, Emily became dean of the college. In 1876 it became a three-year institution, and in 1893 it became a four-year college, ahead of much of the profession. By 1899 the college had trained 364 women doctors.

Blackwell retired at the turn of the century, and spent the next ten years at her summer home in Maine. She died on September 7 1910 in York Cliffs, Maine, a few months after Elizabeth's death in England. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Dr. Emily Blackwell Dead |url= |quote=One of Founders of First Women's Hospital In America.
publisher=New York Times |date=September 9, 1910, Friday |accessdate=2007-06-21 ]

Legacy

Emily was denied admission to study medicine at the Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York, from which her older sister had graduated. After being rejected by several other schools, she was finally accepted in 1852 by Rush Medical College in Chicago. However, in 1853, when male students complained about having to study with a woman, the Illinois Medical Society vetoed her admission. She was accepted by the Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Ohio, and earned her M.D. degree in 1854. She subsequently pursued further studies in Edinburgh under Sir James Young Simpson, in London under Dr. William Jenner, and in Paris, Berlin, and Dresden.

At Western Reserve University, the medical education of women began at the urging of reform-minded Dean John Delamater, who was backed by the Ohio Female Medical Education Society, formed in 1852 to provide moral and financial support for the women medical students. Despite their efforts, the Western Reserve faculty voted to put an end to Delamater's policies in 1856, finding it "inexpedient" to continue admitting women. (The AMA also adopted a report in 1856 advising against coeducation in medicine.) Western Reserve resumed admitting women in 1879, but did so only sporadically for five years. Admission of women at Western Reserve recommenced on a continuous basis in 1918.

References

Further reading

*"Webster's Dictionary of American Women", ISBN 0-7651-9793-6.

External links

* [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_36.html Changing the Face of Medicine] — at NIH
* [http://casemed.case.edu/student_affairs/enrichprog/blackwell.html The Emily Blackwell Society] — at Case Western