It's Not All Bad News: Successful Female Medical Professionals

Source:wikmedia.org

While there are many barriers that keep women from being successful as medical professionals, there are equally as many women who have overcame the challenges presented by a career as a female physician. As I seek to be a physician myself, it is relieving to see that my gender does not determine my fate as a medical professional. The Huffington Post Healthy Living staff put together a compilation of “50 Women Who Shaped America’s Health” to identify the many women who have had impactful medical careers, and inspire others women to do the same.

Dr. Virginia Apgar, M.D.: Dr. Apgar developed a standardized system to evaluate babies when they are born called the Apgar System. This system was developed in 1952 and involved checking breathing, skin color, as well as reflexes. In 1949, Dr. Apgar was the first women to become a full professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.

Regina Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General: Dr. Benjamin is the current Surgeon General of the United States and was appointed by President Barack Obama. Furthermore, after earning her medical degree from The University of Alabama and her business degree from Tulane, Surgeon General Benjamin went on to become the first black women under 40 years old to become a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association.

Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D.: Dr. Blackwell was the first ever woman to earn an M.D. She graduated from New York’s Geneva Medical College and went on to co-found the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, M.D.: Dr. Crumpler was the first African American woman to earn an M.D. She graduated in 1864 from the New England Female Medical School which is now Boston University Medical School. After the Civil War, Crumpler moved out of Boston to care for freed slaves.