Elizabeth Blackwell

born February 3, 1821, died May 31, 1910

Blackwell, America's first woman doctor, was admitted to New York's Geneva
College as a joke in 1847. She overcame taunts and prejudice while at
medical school to earn her degree in 1849, graduating at the top of
her class. After American hospitals refused to hire her, she opened
a clinic in New York City where she was joined by her sister Dr. Emily 
Blackwell and Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska. In 1868, Blackwell opened 
the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, a high 
quality institution which remained open until 1899, when women were 
first admitted to Cornell University Medical School.