Changing the face of Medicine

Meet the Pioneers in the Exhibit

Women Medical Pioneers

Local Legends Honored

• Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to attend medical school and become a physician in the United States.

• Dr. Nell Ryan was the first woman to graduate from Mississippi’s new four-year School of Medicine.

• Dr. Myrna Alexander-Nickens has the distinction of making two “firsts” in Mississippi: she was the first African-American female cardiologist and the first female interventional cardiologist in the state.

• Dr. Anne Walter Fearn: 19th century physician and missionary.

• Dr. Tenley Albright was the first woman to serve as an officer on the United States Olympic Committee.

• Dr. May Farinholt Jones was the first woman physician at the Mississippi State College for Women (formerly the Industrial Institute and College), the first woman ever admitted to the Mississippi State Medical Association and the first woman to take the state board medical examination in Mississippi.

A Mississippi Gallery

F. E. Giles
1920 Graduate
University of Mississippi
School of Medicine/Oxford

Mrs. Tommie Crudup
Midwife
Forrest, MS
(Source: Family Photo)

Mary Agnes Gautier
Nurse Anesthetist
MNA Hall of Fame
(1916-1982)
(Source: MS Nurses Assn)

Mary Kirkpatrick Haskell
MS 1st School Nurse Practitioner
MNA Hall of Fame
(1925-1987)
(Source: MS Nurses Assn)

Joyce Travelbee
Psychiatric Nursing
MNA Hall of Fame
(1925-1972)
(Source: MS Nurses Assn)

Jennie Quinn Cameron
1st President/MNA (1911-1915)
(1880-1976)
(Source: MS Nurses Assn)

Christine Oglevee
1st Dean, School of Nursing
University Medical Center
(1910-1978)
(Source: Univ. of Miss. Medical Center)

Ruth Werner
1st Director, Nursing Service
University Hospital
(Source: Univ. of Miss. Medical Center)

Machiel Perkins
1st Night Supervisor
University Medical Center
(Source: Univ. of Miss. Medical Center)

Hattie Godbold (Bauer)
1st MS Graduate Nurse, 1903
Natchez Charity Hospital
Training School for Nursing
(Source: MS Hospital Assn)

Eliza Farish Pillars
1st Black Public Health Nurse
MS State Board of Health, 1926
(Source: MS Hospital Assn)

Ina Belle Johnson
1st Graduate of MS Baptist Hospital's Integrated Nursing Program, 1931
(Source: MS Hospital Assn)

Flora Goode
1st Full Time Nurse Education Consultant, 1947
MS Board of Medical Examiners
(Source: MS Baptist Hospital)

Mary R. Harkins
Dean, School of Nursing
University of Southern MS
(Source: MS Hospital Assn)

Sallie Stamps
1st Head Nurse
MS Baptist Hospital, 1911
(Source: MS Baptist Medical Center)

Inez Driskell
Staff, Gilfoy School of Nursing
MS Baptist Hospital
(Source: MS Baptist Hospital)

Flora Posey
1st Director
Gilfoy School of Nursing
MS Baptist Hospital
(Source: MS Baptist Hospital)

Flora Goode with Students
McComb Infirmary, 1947
(Source: MS Hospital Assn)