A. J. Wright, M.L.S.Anesthesiology Library

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Female Physicians in Alabama Before World War I

HALLE TANNER DILLON (1864-1901)

b. Pittsburgh, Penn. Women’s Med. Coll. Penn., 1891 Certified State Board, 1891 Tuskegee Inst., 1891-1894 Hale Infirmary, Montgomery (?)

Halle Johnson

ALABAMA MEDICAL PRACTICE ACT OF 1877

Designated MASA to establish physician standards/ qualifications

MASA Board of Censors became state BME

Each county's Board of Censors could also administer exams/issue licenses recognized statewide

Female Physician Milestones

1849: Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first American woman to receive medical degree

1850: Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania opens — world’s first medical school for women

Female Physician Milestones 1854: Ann Preston appointed professor of

physiology and hygiene at Woman’s College 1857: NY Infirmary for Women & Children

opens — first hospital run entirely by women

1881: By this date 17 state medical societies accepted women

U.S. Physicians: 1890 and 1900

Total Male Female

1890 104,805 100,248 4,557

1900 132,002 124,615 7,387

Source: Census Data

U.S. Physicians: 1970 and 1960

Male Female

1970 308,627 25,401

1996 580,130 156,149

Source: American Medical Association

Univ of Alabama SOM Admissions

Male Female1961 74 61989 129 361999 97 63

Source: UASOM

Louisa Shepard, M.D.

Graefenberg Medical Institute Dadeville, Alabama: 1852-1861 Founded by Dr. Philip M. Shepard First woman to earn M.D. from Southern

medical school Left Alabama for Texas

Ella Elizabeth Barnes, M.D.

Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1893

Certified Jefferson Co. BME, 1893 Jefferson Co. Medical Society member,

ca. 1894

Ionia R. Whipper, M.D.

Howard Medical School, 1903 Succeeded Dillon at Tuskegee as resident physician Cared only for female patients Returned to Washington, D.C. and began work

with unwed mothers Opened Ionia R. Whipper Home, Inc., for Unwed

Mothers in 1931

Dicia Houston Baker, M.D.

Born 1865 Laura Memorial Woman’s Medical College

(Cincinnati), 1898 Certified Jefferson Co. BME, 1899 Jefferson Co. Medical Society, ca. 1901-05 AMA Member Died April 14, 1907 after 2 months illness

Annie May Robinson, M.D.

Born May 14, 1865; Smithsburg, Maryland Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1905 Certified Jefferson Co. BME, 1907 Jefferson Co. Medical Society, ca. 1910 AMA Member Died October 1, 1920