The
Of Medicine
Changing Face By Emma V. Chambers
M
ost thought it was a joke. Elizabeth Blackwell applied to nearly every medical school in the nation but was denied admission. It wasn’t because her grades weren’t good enough or her essay wasn’t eloquent. It was because she was a woman.
The numerous rejections only made Blackwell more determined to achieve her dream of becoming a physician. Running out of schools, she applied to Geneva Medical College in upstate New York, where administrators decided to let the students decide if she should be admitted. Thinking it was a prank, the all-male student body overwhelmingly supported her admission. And so in 1847, Elizabeth Blackwell entered medical school at what is now known as SUNY Upstate Medical University. Ostracized and even banned from some demonstrations early in her training because they were deemed inappropriate for a woman, Blackwell was not deterred. Two years later, she graduated first in her medical class and became the first female physician in the United States in the modern era. Some 164 years later, female physicians aren’t just sprinkled among the medical profession, they are fixtures in the exam room, operating suite and research lab, comprising one-third of the profession. In addition, females represented 47.9 percent of the 2008-2009 first year enrollment in the nation’s medical schools. This assimilation into medicine is not an anomaly; it is merely a reflection of women’s increased presence in the workforce as a whole. Turn the pages to read about Dr. Sherilyn Gordon Burroughs, one of only three female African-American liver transplant surgeons in the United States, and Kelly Gilmore-Lynch, who enlisted in the Army to pay for college and medical school. You’ll also read about Norma Salahshour, a dedicated nurse at The Methodist Hospital for nearly 50 years; and Connie Dyer, a philanthropist and member of The Methodist Hospital’s board of directors for more than 20 years. These women are changing the face of medicine. This edition of Leading Medicine is dedicated to women’s health and the more than 500 female physicians on staff at Methodist’s network of hospitals, as well as the thousands of female nurses, technicians and support staff who work around the clock, 365 days a year to advance Methodist’s mission of providing the highest quality patient care in a spiritual environment of caring. n
Volume 5, number 4 I 3
