Elizabeth Blackwell: “If there had been a lady doctor…”
Written By: Roger Boodoo MD
In the early 1800s, the bedside promise came first. A young Elizabeth Blackwell sat with her dying friend, often identified as Mary Donaldson. The illness was long and painful likely from uterine cancer, but the worst part of it, Mary said, was the humiliation of intimate exams by men. If there had been a lady doctor, I would have gone to the doctor sooner. Elizabeth walked out of that room with a purpose strong enough to change her life and the practice of medicine.
The world she walked into
Mid‑19th‑century medicine did not make it easy for women, either as patients or as professionals. Many schools argued that women should not study anatomy. In maternity wards, before consistent hygiene and handwashing, childbed fever took far too many lives. At home, social norms kept many women from seeking care early. Blackwell chose medicine because of this reality: if the physician women who were needed didn’t exist, she would become one and build places where others could follow.
The Medical School prank
After rejection letters from one medical school after another, Blackwell applied to Geneva Medical College in New York. The faculty passed the decision to the all‑male student body and said they would deny her if even one student voted no. Expecting it would never actually happen, the students voted yes as a prank.
She arrived anyway. Some professors asked her to sit apart in lectures. Certain labs closed their doors to her. Curious locals sometimes came just to watch the scene of one woman among many men. Between terms she worked at Philadelphia’s Blockley Almshouse (poorhouse), and saw how typhus spread where sanitation was subpar. Blackwell then wrote her thesis on prevention. In 1849, she crossed the stage at Geneva as the first woman in America to earn a medical degree. The “joke” no longer landed. The door was open.
When doors stayed closed, she built new ones
New York hospitals wouldn’t credential her. Some landlords wouldn’t rent to her when she tried to open a clinic office. Misconceptions about “female physicians” lingered. So she built the things she couldn’t find. She opened a small dispensary (today's urgent care clinics) so poor women and children could receive care from a woman - care with dignity. With her sister Emily Blackwell and physician Marie Zakrzewska, she founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, where care and training lived side by side. And when talented women still couldn’t get a fair shot at medical school, she helped launch a medical college attached to the Infirmary while setting clear entrance standards, a strong curriculum, and supervised clinical work. Along the way, a clinical accident in Paris left Blackwell blind in one eye, ending her surgical plans. She adapted by focusing on public health, education, and building institutions that would last.
Why this still matters now
Blackwell’s story isn’t just history; it’s a guide for how to build better care today. Dignity brings people through the door. Her friend delayed treatment because she expected shame. Many patients still hesitate because of fear, past experiences, cost, or culture. When care is respectful and private, people come earlier, and outcomes improve.
Standards before scale. Blackwell pushed for hygiene and structured training before growth. In modern medicine and AI, that means validation in real clinics, clear guardrails, and the ability to explain and audit what a tool does.
Make preparation a profession. She fought to turn informal “help” into trained, paid nursing. The lesson endures: invest in the people who carry the system such as nurses, technologists, medics, and residents and give them reliable tools, feedback loops, and room to lead and grow.
Build the thing that’s missing. When she couldn’t find an internship, she built a clinic, then a hospital, then a college. Today that mindset looks like creating the tool or software you want to use, designing products works around you versus you having to change your workflow.
Design for the hardest day. Blackwell’s institutions worked in crisis not just on calm days. Health systems and AI need the same toughness: ready for surge, resilient to outages, and useful in time‑critical environments where seconds matter.
Blackwell’s ethos still stands: What will you build when you face barriers?
How we carry her legacy at HOPPR
To honor Elizabeth Blackwell’s leadership in women’s health, we are naming our new HOPPR Mammography Foundation after her. Our commitment to expand access to AI, improve quality, and support clinicians with trustworthy tools in breast imaging. It’s how we turn admiration into action.
Personal Perspective from the Field
As a former Navy physician who deployed with all male USMC infantry battalion in Middle East, we did not see many local patients at first, so we went to them. I remember women who were hesitant to be seen, for many reasons given the situation, but privacy and respect slowly unlocked trust. That is my Blackwell lesson: go to the point of need, remove barriers, and let trust bring people through the door.
