5 Women Health Care Heroes Who Inspire Us

In ancient times, women healers around the world were often punished for practicing medicine. Female shamans who used herbs to alleviate pain or treat diseases, and midwives who cared for pregnant women and babies, were even believed to be witches and were forced to stop practicing medicine.

Thankfully, women have persevered and made notable advances in medicine since the 1800s. You may have heard about some of these women. They, along with others who followed in their footsteps, fought stereotypes to succeed despite difficulties.

Their dedication and achievements opened the door for later generations of women, including those working in health care today. This Women’s History Month, let’s look at some important female pioneers in U.S. medicine whose contributions remain impressive even now.

Blackwell was always interested in medicine. She first studied medical practice by reading books on her own. Blackwell felt inspired and decided to attend medical school to become a doctor. Ten different medical colleges rejected her because she was a woman. Then the Geneva Medical College in New York accepted her application, but only because they thought it was a joke. Blackwell took the opportunity anyway, completed her studies, and graduated! She became the first licensed female doctor in the United States and later opened a medical college for women, enabling other women to study medicine.

Not only was Rebecca Lee Crumpler the first African American woman to graduate from medical school, but she was also the first Black woman to graduate from college in the U.S.! Few colleges admitted women at the time, and even fewer admitted Black students. Through her hard work and a recommendation from a doctor she worked with, the New England Female Medical College accepted her into their program. She graduated and worked as a doctor. After the Civil War, Crumpler moved to Richmond, Virginia, for four years to care for freed slaves before returning to the Boston area to continue her practice. She later wrote a medical book, A Book of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts, that addresses children’s and women’s health.

Lucy Hobbs Taylor was the first woman to graduate from a dental college. The Ohio College of Dental Surgery initially did not accept her as a student. She studied with private tutors and opened her own dental practice, even before she had a license. After that, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery accepted her as a student, and she graduated in 1866.

Susan La Flesche was the first Native American female physician in the U.S., graduating in 1889 from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. After excelling in her studies there, she returned home to the Omaha Reservation with her medical degree to serve other Native Americans and improve their standard of medical care. In 1913, she achieved another lifelong goal by opening a hospital on the Omaha Reservation in Walthill, Nebraska, now named after her.

Clara Barton began her career as a teacher, later served as a hospital nurse during the American Civil War, and eventually founded the American Red Cross, which joined the International Red Cross a year later. Incredibly, she did not receive formal medical training, but learned while serving. Her first experience of caring for the sick was nursing her sick brother at home. She started serving Union soldiers in the Civil War by bringing them supplies and then began caring for the wounded, earning the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield.”