Welcome to our first Around the World post! Today, we will be discussing 5 amazing doctors that you NEED to know about!
Anandi Gopal Joshi
Anandi Gopal Joshi was the first Indian female to earn a medical degree. She was married off at the age of nine to a man twenty years older than her and when Joshi was fourteen, she gave birth to a boy. Her child only lived for ten days due to lack of medical care. The loss of her child is said to spark her interest in medicine. Joshi started her medical education at the age 19 in the United States with the support of her husband. She graduated with a medical degree and returned home to be a lead physician at the Albert Edward Hospital.
Helene D. Gayle
Helene D. Gayle is a doctor and currently the CEO of The Chicago Community Trust. This organization works to provide resources for impoverished residents in Chicago. Before working at The Chicago Community Trust, Gayle also worked at CDC for twenty years, focusing specifically on HIV and AIDS. She also directed the HIV, tuberculosis and Reproductive Health division in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Furthermore, Gayle has been named one of The Wall Street Journal’s “50 Women to Watch”, and Newsweek’s Top 10 “Women in Leadership”. In addition, she was named one of the “100 Most Powerful Women” in Forbes.
Ogino Ginko
Ogino Ginko was the first female physician of western medicine in Japan. She got married at the age of 16, but divorced her husband after contracting a STI. Ginko was treated by male doctors, which she found humiliating. She couldn’t find any female doctors to treat her, so she decided to become one to help women who have to go through the same thing she did. After many years of dealing with intense sexism, Ginko graduated from the Koju-in Medical School. She later opened the Ogino Hospital in Tokyo.
Dorothy Lavinia Brown
Dorothy Lavinia Brown was the first African American female surgeon in the South. Brown grew up in an orphanage, but ran away, determined to get an education. After graduating high school at the top of her class, and graduating college and medical school, Brown became a surgeon. She served as the Chief of Surgery at Nashville’s Riverside Hospital and the clinical professor of surgery at Medical Meharry College. Brown also became the first African American female representative to the state legislature in Tennessee, specializing in abortion rights.
Antonia Novello
Antonia Novello was the first female and first latinx to be surgeon general in the United States. While growing up, Novello suffered with a medical condition that could only be fixed with surgery which motivated her to become a surgeon. After studying for her bachelor’s at the University of Michigan, and Georgetown University, she earned her medical degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She became surgeon general in 1990, appointed by President George H. W. Bush. Novello focused on raising awareness about under-age drinking, drug abuse, AIDS and smoking. In 2009, Novello was charged with one count of defrauding the government, three counts of filing a false instrument, and sixteen counts of theft of government services. She was said to have used government employees as “personal chauffeurs” and “shopping assistants” during her time as surgeon general.
sources:
Anandi Gopal Joshi - https://scientificwomen.net/women/gopal_joshi-anandi-112
Helene D. Gayle -
Ogino Ginko -
Dorothy Lavinia Brown -
Antonia Novello -
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