Women in Medicine After the Nineteenth Century
Dr. Annie Lowrie Alexander made many contributions to medicine in North Carolina. She was not the only woman to pursue a medical license and to make contributions. As time went on, it got easier for women to get into medical school. Since then, many women have made important contributions to medicine.
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Dr. Janet Davison Rowley (1925-current day) “identified a process of “translocation” or the exchange of genetic material between chromosomes in patients with leukemia” (NLM). Her discoveries “revolutionized the medical understanding of the role of genetic exchange and damage in causing disease” (NLM).
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Another woman who made important contributions to medicine is Dr. M. Irene Ferrer (1915-2004). She worked on the Nobel prize-winning project that was a step in creating open-heart surgery. Also, she worked with a team of cardiologists in developing the cardiac catheter (NLM).
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In 1952 Virginia Apgar, MD, developed “the Apgar Score, the first standardized test used to evaluate newborns” (AMA, pg 3).
These four women, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Ferrer, Dr. Rowley and Dr. Apgar are all important women in the field of medicine. If women did not get involved in the field of medicine, I do not believe that the US would be as advanced in medicine as it is today. I think the perseverance of women getting into the medical field and helping to expanding it was very beneficial. Those women are not the only women making important contributions to the field of medicine.