Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi was considered the foremost female
physician of her era. She worked to gain
educational rights for women and at the time of her death she had authored a
paper on meningeal tumors.
Childhood
and Medical Education
Mary was born on August 31, 1842; the first of 11 children.
Her early childhood was spent in London where her father, George Putnam,
was establishing a branch of his publishing company, Wiley & Putnam. She was educated at home by her mother but
spent two years at a public school for girls.
Several of the fictional pieces that she wrote were published.
Elizabeth
Blackwell provided Mary with private study in science and medicine. George Putnam considered medicine to be a
repulsive profession but supported his daughter. She ultimately graduated from the New York
College of Pharmacy in 1863 and earned an MD from the Female Medical College of
Pennsylvania in 1864. After experiencing
dissatisfaction with the level of
medical training in America, she became the second woman to graduate from the École de Médecine of the University of Paris in 1871.
Medical Practice
After returning from Paris,
Mary was very involved in medicine in New York City:
- Organized
the Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of Women in 1872
- Served
as President of the Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of
Women from 1874-1903
- Lectured
at the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children
from 1873-1899
In 1886 she opened a
children's ward at the New York Infirmary.
Dr. Abraham Jacobi, the "founder of American pediatrics", married Mary
in 1873. He helped her gain entry to the
medical societies of New York.
Mary authored over 120
medical papers including one that won the Boylston Prize at Harvard University
in 1876. As an active suffragist she
supported female students in the medical field and as medical educators.
Mary died on June 10, 1906 at age
63, but not before authoring a paper on the cause of her own death. It was called "Description of the Early Symptoms of the Meningeal
Tumor Compressing the Cerebellum. From Which the Writer Died. Written by
Herself."
Resources
Harvard University - Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842-1906)
National Library of
Medicine - Dr. Mary
Corinna Putnam Jacobi
Wikipedia - Mary
Corinna Putnam Jacobi
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Re: Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842-1906): Authored a Paper about the Cause of Her Own Death
