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Outstanding Women in Pathology

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Pathology: Historical and Contemporary Aspects

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Abstract

The history of women and their contributions to Western medicine is relatively new. During the past century and a half, women had to overcome many obstacles including the intransigencies of men in leadership positions in medicine who decided which individuals would be accepted into medical school based mainly on the person’s sex. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), the first woman to graduate from medical school in the USA, had to fight her way to get into Geneva Medical College (Norton College of Medicine) in New York in 1849 and her sister, Emily, followed her into a medical career a few years later and had to endure the same hardships to obtain a medical education [1]. Together these sisters became pioneers in the practice of medicine by women and they went on to establish a rigorous medical school for women in New York [1]. Many women have contributed to major advances in pathology. These have ranged from Dr. Canavan who described a neuropathologic condition that carries her name to Dr. Maude Abbott who made major contributions in congenital heart diseases and was also a founding organizer of the International Association of Medical Museums. Many other outstanding women who have made major contributions in the advancement of pathology are discussed in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology & Lab Medicine, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Ricardo V. Lloyd

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Lloyd, R.V. (2023). Outstanding Women in Pathology. In: Pathology: Historical and Contemporary Aspects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39554-3_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39554-3_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-39554-3

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