You may have seen the shot: it’s of a group of medical students and they’re all women. One’s from Japan, one’s from India and the third from Syria. They’re all wearing traditional clothes from their home countries. Nothing too remarkable in that, you might say. Until you see the date.

1885.

These women were students at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP). The original image resides in the archives of Drexel University which eventually absorbed the successor to the WMCP in 2003. Archivist Matt Herbison was able to dig up much more about the women as well. These women were nothing short of medical pioneers. All three graduated and each of them thus became the first woman from their respective countries to get a degree in western medicine.

Read more...