Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. (1821-1910) was the first woman to graduate from an American medical school, Geneva Medical College in New York. Blackwell, though, was an anomaly. Geneva and other "regular" medical schools refused to admit women even after Blackwell graduated. "Miss Blackwell's admission was an experiment, not intended as a precedent," insisted Dean James Hadley in 1849 to the second female applicant, Sarah Adamson.
 
More than 100 years after Blackwell's graduation, the AAMC reported rates of 5-6% for women as a percentage of total graduates from U.S. medical schools. This shows improvement, but it would take Title IX, which stipulated that any institution receiving federal funding could not discriminate on the basis of sex, to really open medical education for women. Today, women represent 50% of graduates from medical schools.
 
Come learn more about the experience of women in medicine.  The Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library ( http://www.gwumc.edu/library ), in conjunction with the School of Medicine, invite you to see a traveling exhibition from the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine ( http://nlm.nih.gov/ ). The exhibit, Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women Physicians ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/ ), introduces some of the many extraordinary and fascinating women who have studied and practiced medicine in America. Women of all generations and diverse backgrounds are featured in this exhibition celebrating all of America's physicians.
 
Your thoughts on the exhibit are welcome on the library blog at http://www.gwumc.edu/library/blog/client/index.cfm/2009/9/29/Changing-the-Face-of-Medicine Click on comments to leave your thoughts.
 
The exhibit will remain on display in the Library from September 28th through November 8th. Please contact Cynthia Kahn at 202-994-3683 or mlbcrk@gwumc.edu with any questions about the exhibit.