Elizabeth Blackwell

Physician

Elizabeth Blackwell and her family emigrated to America from England in 1832. Blackwell worked as a teacher, then decided to be a doctor. After being turned down by several schools, she was finally admitted to Geneva Medical College (now Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in New York. Blackwell graduated in 1849, becoming the first woman to earn a medical degree. She worked in hospitals in Europe, then returned to New York in 1851. In 1857 she opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, a clinic with an all-female staff. In 1869 she returned to England.

Extra credit: Blackwell's sister-in-law was Antoinette Brown, the first woman in America to become an ordained Christian minister.