Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord bridges two worlds of medicine—traditional Navajo healing and conventional Western medicine—to treat the whole patient. She provides culturally competent care to restore balance in her patients’ lives and to speed their recovery.

Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D.

Elisabeth Kübler–Ross, a Swiss–born American psychiatrist, pioneered the concept of providing psychological counseling to the dying. In her first book, On Death and Dying (published in 1969), she described five stages she believed were experienced by those nearing death—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She also suggested that death be considered a normal stage of life, and offered strategies for treating patients and their families as they negotiate these stages. The topic of death had been avoided by many physicians and the book quickly became a standard text for professionals who work with terminally ill patients. Hospice care has subsequently been established as an alternative to hospital care for the terminally ill, and there has been more emphasis on counseling for families of dying patients.

Ken Ross Photography

Margaret Hamburg, one of the youngest people ever elected to the Institute of Medicine (IoM, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences), is a highly regarded expert in community health and bio–defense, including preparedness for nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. As health commissioner for New York City from 1991 to 1997, she developed innovative programs for controlling the spread of tuberculosis and AIDS.

Margaret Hamburg, M.D.

Dr. Margaret Hamburg is a leader in public health who developed programs for controlling the spread of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in the 1990s.

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From 1954 to 1962, Leona Baumgartner, M.D., served as the first woman commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health. She used her position to bring no–nonsense health and hygiene advice to millions of Americans via regular television and radio broadcasts, and by sending health care professionals to visit schools and church groups. Throughout her career she broadened the scope of public health by teaching preventive medicine in easy–to–understand brochures, and helped to improve the health of New York’s poorest and most vulnerable.

National Library of Medicine, Images from the History of Medicine, B02511

Dr. Leona Baumgartner was the first woman to become commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and pioneered health education programs and health services in poor communities.

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“Pursuing difficult questions — in science and in policy — takes one to interesting places,” says Christine Cassel, M.D., a renowned expert in geriatric medicine and medical ethics. She works to improve quality of life for elderly patients, challenging out–of–date ideas about what can be expected in the aging process.

Christine Karen Cassel, M.D.

Dr. Christine Karen Cassel is a leading expert in geriatrics and medical ethics and was the first woman president of the American College of Physicians.

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Dr. JoAnn Manson has been a leading researcher in the two largest women’s health research projects ever launched in the United States—the first large scale study of women begun in 1976 as the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, and the National Institute of Health’s Women’s Health Initiative, which involved 164,000 healthy women. Until the early 1990s, research on human health was usually done from all–male subject groups, and the results generated were thought to apply to both sexes. Federal regulation now mandates the inclusion of women in all research studies, as men and women may react differently to certain diseases and drug remedies, a fact Dr. Manson’s research efforts have helped to establish.

JoAnn Elisabeth Manson, M.D., Dr.P.H.

Dr. JoAnn Elizabeth Manson is a leading researcher in women’s health and public health.

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JudyAnn Bigby, M.D., is director of the Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. She is devoted to the health care needs of underserved populations, focusing especially on women’s health. She is also nationally recognized for her pioneering work educating physicians on the provision of care to people with histories of substance abuse.

JudyAnn Bigby, M.D., Photo by Michael T. Quan and Courtesy of Patriots Trail Girl Scout Council

Dr. JudyAnn Bigby serves as the director of Harvard Medical School’s Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and works to address the health care needs of vulnerable populations.

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As a pediatrician, writer, wife, and mother—Perri Klass has demonstrated how medicine is integral to the health of families and communities, and how doctors themselves struggle to balance the conflicting needs of profession, self, and family. With her love of literature and her involvement with literacy, Klass is acutely aware of the importance of reading to personal and professional success. As medical director of Reach Out and Read, a national program which makes books and advice about reading to young children part of every well–child visit, she encourages other pediatricians to foster pre–reading skills in their young patients.

Reach Out and Read National Center

Susan M. Briggs, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, established and became the first director of the International Medical Surgical Response Team (IMSuRT), an emergency response team that, on short notice, organizes and sends teams of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals from throughout New England to emergencies around the globe.

Susan M. Briggs, M.D., M.P.H.

In 1948, nine years before the “Little Rock Nine” integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, Edith Irby Jones became the first black student to attend racially mixed classes in the South, and the first black student to attend the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Her enrollment in a previously segregated southern medical school made news headlines across the nation.

Edith Irby Jones, M.D.

Edith Irby Jones, M.D.

Dr. Edith Irby Jones was the first woman to be elected president of the National Medical Association and the first African American to graduate from University of Arkansas School of Medicine (now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.)

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Psychiatrist Leah J. Dickstein is a former president of the American Medical Women’s Association and vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. Her innovative Health Awareness Workshop Program, at the University of Louisville, is based on her experience attending medical school while raising a family. The popular program, which covers everything from individual well–being to personal relationships, as well as race and gender issues, has made the University of Louisville one of the nation’s most family–friendly medical colleges.

Leah J. Dickstein, M.D., M.A.

Dr. Leah J. Dickstein developed a program to help medical students balance their studies and family lives and was president of the American Medical Women’s Association.

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Barbara Barlow was the first woman to train in pediatric surgery at Babies Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center (now called Babies’ and Children’s Hospital of New York). By researching and documenting the causes of injuries to children in Harlem, and increasing public education about their prevention, she has helped to dramatically reduce accidents and injuries to inner–city children in New York and throughout the United States.

Barbara Barlow, M.D., M.A.

Dr. Barbara Barlow founded the Injury Free Coalition for Kids and helped increase public education on how to prevent childhood injuries.

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As a pediatric neurologist at Georgetown University Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Marianne Schuelein came to understand the problems of affordable child care from her own experience as a working mother. In 1973, as vice president of the District of Columbia chapter of the American Woman’s Medical Association, she decided to present the issue directly to Albert Ullman (D–Oregon), chair of the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1976, Congress passed a law allowing child care tax deductions, enabling more women to work outside the home.

Marianne Schuelein, M.D.

Marianne Schuelein, M.D.

Dr. Marianne Schuelein campaigned for childcare tax deductions, which Congress pass into law in 1976, enabling more women to work outside the home.

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When Dr. Antonia Novello was appointed Surgeon General of the United States by President George Bush in 1990, she was the first woman—and the first Hispanic—ever to hold that office. Her appointment came after nearly two decades of public service at the National Institutes of Health, where she took a role in drafting national legislation regarding organ transplantation.

Antonia Novello M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H.

Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H.

In her role as the first woman editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Catherine DeAngelis, M.D., has made a special effort to publish substantive scientific articles on women’s health issues. The journal plays an important role in bringing new research to light, and featured articles can lead to fundamental changes in treatment. Under her editorship, the journal published a landmark study questioning the benefits of hormone replacement therapy in 2002. She also served as editor of the Archive of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, from 1993 to 2000.

Catherine DeAngelis

Catherine DeAngelis, M.D., M.P.H.

As director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences from 1974 to 1993, Dr. Ruth Kirschstein was the first woman institute director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Throughout her career, she has worked as an administrator, fundraiser, and scientific researcher, investigating possible public health responses in the midst of crisis and conservatism.

Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D.

Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein served as director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, becoming the first woman director of an institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Dr. Helen Ranney’s landmark research during the 1950s was some of the earliest proof of a link between genetic factors and sickle cell anemia. She went on to become the first woman to chair the department of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and was the first woman president of the Association of American Physicians from 1984 to 1985.

Helen M. Ranney, M.D.

Dr. Helen M. Ranney made pivotal contributions to sickle cell anemia research and became the first woman president of the Association of American Physicians.

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Dr. Audrey Forbes Manley received a music scholarship to study at Spelman College in Atlanta. She took the opportunity to expand her education and interests and moved into the sciences. She was appointed Assistant Surgeon General in 1988, and is the first African American woman to hold a position of that rank in the United States Public Health Service. In 1997, she returned to Spelman, after forty years in medicine, to serve as president of the college.

Parklawn Health Library

Dr. Audrey Forbes Manley was the first African American woman to achieve the rank of assistant surgeon general (Rear Admiral in the Public Health Service.)

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In 1966, Frances Krauskopf Conley became the first woman to pursue a surgical internship at Stanford University Hospital, and in 1986, she became the first tenured full professor of neurosurgery at a medical school in the United States. In 1991, she risked her career when she drew public attention to the sexist environment which, she argued, pervaded Stanford University Medical Center.

Frances K. Conley, M.D., M.S.

Dr. Frances K. Conley was the first woman to be a full tenured professor of neurosurgery at a medical school in the United States.

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Cardiologist Bernadine Healy is a physician, educator, and health administrator who was the first woman to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Known for her outspoken, innovative policymaking, Dr. Healy has been particularly effective in addressing medical policy and research pertaining to women.

Bernadine Healy, M.D.

Dr. Bernadine Healy was the first woman to direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Dr. Paula Johnson is a women’s health specialist and a pioneer in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. She conceived of and developed one of the first facilities in the country to focus on heart disease in women.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dr. Paula A. Johnson is a pioneering specialist in cardiovascular disease and developed one of the first facilities dedicated to heart disease in women.

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Dr. Joan Reede works to recruit and prepare minority students for jobs in the biomedical professions, and to promote better health care policies for the benefit of minority populations. In 2001, she became Harvard Medical School’s first dean for diversity and community partnership. She is the first African American woman to hold that rank at HMS and one of the few African American women to hold a deanship at a medical school in the United States.

Joan Y. Reede, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.

Dr. Joan Y. Reede was appointed Harvard Medical School’s first dean for diversity and community partnership and has worked to bring more minority students into the health professions.

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