Beauty and Brains–Women in the Sciences

The National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health(NPWH) is an organization founded in 1980 who’s mission is to, ” assure the provision of quality health care to women of all ages by nurse practitioners”. This organization is regulated to six regions of the United States that includes the Southeast, South Central, North Atlantic, Great Lakes, and the West and also has connections to various universities including Missouri State and Vanderbilt. My scientist Dr. Nancy Wexler, as you all should be well aware of by now, is a neuropsychologist. As a neuropsychologist she researched the various genetic links to the neurological disorder Huntington’s disease. Dr. Wexler would not have joined this organization due to the fact that she is not a nurse practitioner. Furthermore,  she never worked in clinical settings, her research was performed inside labs.  I do believe though that she would vehemently agree with its principles, seeing as her mother, due to Huntington’s disease, was most likely placed under care whether in a hospital setting or at home frequently. I feel that Nancy must have attained a high sense of respect and appreciation towards health workers, and because of this experience she would therefore support the NPWH’s cause.

National Association of Nurse Practitioners My powerpoint on the NPWH!

The American Medical Women’s Association was founded in 1915 in Chicago by Dr. Bertha VanHoosen. This was a time where females physicians were “under-represented.” VanHoosen wanted to created an organization that would empower women and improve health for everyone.

The AMWA focuses on improving health for all with a womanly perspective. They want to advance women in the medical profession. Their mission as stated on the page is “…[T]o advance women in medicine and improve women’s health. [They] achieve this by providing and developing leadership, advocacy, education, expertise, mentoring, and strategic alliances.”

The AMWA works locally, nationally, and internationally. There are various branches, but UMW does not have a chapter. There are instructions on the AMWA website on how to recruite members to start a branch; you only need 5 members.

The AMWA is made up of physicians, students, health care professionals, and donors. There are annual fee’s depending on what your current membership status is: physician, student, resident, etc.  Nothing on their website says that males cannot join, and considering the AMWA wants to promote gender equality, I’m sure they’d extend the membership invitation to men, in addition to women.

My scientist, Elizabeth Blackwell, would’ve loved to have been a part of the American Medical Women’s Assosiation; she died 5 years before it’s establishment. The AMWA does have a tribute in honor of the 1st female physician rightly named the “Elizabeth Blackwell Award.” It is awarded annually to a female physician, member or non, that has made outstanding contributions to the medical profession. The AMWA and Elizabeth Blackwell share the same views. They both want to empower women. The AMWA does this as described in their mission, as well as through projects such as, “Medicine; a Women’s Career,” which is intended for high students interested in medicine. Blackwell really worked to encourage young females to succeed in medicine. The New York Infirmary and College for Women, which Blackwell founded, trained and gave experience to female doctors. Elizabeth Blackwell would’ve encouraged the AMWA to continue to encourage and mentor younger generations of females to pursue careers in the medical profession.

This is the AMWA website. It’s pretty interesting and easy to navigate. http://www.amwa-doc.org/

“ About NPWH.” National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health. National Association of Nurse

Practitioners in Women’s Health, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.

“National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health”. National Council of Women’s Organization. National

Council of Women’s Organizations, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011

Arbittier, Dr. Doug, and Dr. Michael Echols. American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques.  N.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://www.braceface.com/medical/Medical_Authors_Faculty/Dickson_Samuel_Henry.html>

Blackwell, Elizabeth, and Emily Blackwell. Address on the Medical Education of Women. New York: Baptist and Taylor, Book and Job Printers. 1864. Print.

 Blackwell, Elizabeth. Scientific Method in Biology. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C. 1898. Print.

 Blackwell, Elizabeth. The Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895. Print.

Brown, Jamie. AMWA: The Vision and Voice of Women in Medicine. American Medical Women’s Association at Ut-Houson. n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. http://www.uth.tmc.edu/amwa/

 D., Cathy. “Elizabeth Blackwell” Blogspot.com. n.d Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://eblackwellproject.blogspot.com/p/biography.html>

 Dana, Charles A, and George Ripley. The American Cyclopaedia. N.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://chestofbooks.com/reference/American-Cyclopaedia-10/Samuel-Henry Dickson.html>

 Dunn, Carol Henry. “Wayne County’s Pioneer Teachers” Wayne County Historical Society. 2000. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. http://www.rileyville.com/PioneerTeachers.html

n.p. American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). MUSC College of Medicine. n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/com/comsc/organications/AMWA.htm

n.p. AMWA. American Medical Women’s Association. n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. http://www.amwa-doc.org/

 n.p. “Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell” Changing the Face of Medicine. n.d. Web. 11 Sept.2011. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_35.html>

 n.p. “Elizabeth Blackwell Biography” Encyclopedia of World Biography. n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. < http://www.notablebiographies.com/Be-Br/Blackwell-Elizabeth.html>

 n.p. “Elizabeth Blackwell Biography” IloveIndia.com. n.d.Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/elizabeth-blackwell-biography-9976.html>

 n.p. “Elizabeth Blackwell.” Biography.com. n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. <http://www.biography.com/articles/Elizabeth-Blackwell-9214198>

n.p. “Elizabeth Blackwell” NNDB. n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.   <http://www.nndb.com/people/947/000162461/>

 n.p. “Saml. Henry Dickson, MD” Images from the History of Medicine (IHM). n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://ihm.nlm.nih.gov/luna/servlet/detail/NLMNLM~1~1~101413666~173732:Saml–Henry-Dickson,-M-D.html>

 n.p. “Samuel Henry Dickson” Family Tree Maker. n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/l/e/e/Sammye-Lee/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0891.html>

 n.p. “Blackwell, Elizabeth.” UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2003. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Elizabeth_Blackwell.aspx>

 Wauchop, George Armstrong. The Writers of South Carolina. South Carolina: The State Co., 1910. Print.

The male contemporary I chose for my primary scientist, Elizabeth Blackwell,  is Samuel Henry Dickson. I had a few options when it came to picking a male physician that had worked with Blackwell; I ended up having to decided between Samuel Dickson and his brother John Dickson. Both aided Blackwell in her studies; John mentored her while she lived in Ashville, North Carolina, and Samuel guided her when she moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 1846. I chose Samuel because Elizabeth went to medical school shortly after her time with him.

Elizabeth Blackwell and Samuel Dickson were both physicians. Though they had the same career, they had many differences in their lives. Elizabeth Blackwell was born Feb. 23rd, 1821. She was the 3rd oldest of 7th children. She never desired marriages, but adopted an orphan, Katharine Barry, in 1854. She applied to 29 medical schools through New York and Pennsylvania, but was only accepted to one, Gevena Medical College. She graduated with an medical degree in 1849, and became the 1st woman doctor. She had applied for several positions as a phsyician, but was not hired because she was a woman, though she did become a professor at the New York Infirimary and College for Women, and was offered a position at the Lodon School of Medicine for Women teaching gynecology. She founded both of those schools, in addition to establishing the US Sanitary Commission and the New York Dispensary for Poor Women and Children. She is also the 1st woman listed in the British Medical Register. Samuel Dickson was born Sept. 20th, 1798. His brother John, was a reverend and physician. Samuel married 3 times and had 8 children. He attended Yale (graduated in 1814) and the University of Pennsylvania (graduated in 1819). He was offered professorships at Medical College in Charleston, South Carolina, which he had founded, the University of Pennsylvania, and Jeffereson Medical College in Philidelphia.  Both Blackwell and Dickson are the authors of several books and essays. They also both died on March 31st: Dickson in 1872, and Blackwell in 1910.

I do believe that in some ways gender effected their carreers. Samuel Dickson was offered several professorships even to schools that he had not founded nor attended, whereas the only places that Elizabeth Blackwell taught at were the medical schools she had founded, and they were all girl institutions. Blackwell was also a single mother of an orphan, Katharine Barry, so it can be assumed that she had more family responsibility that could have interfered with her career. Samuel Dickson had married three times and had eight children from those marriages; his wives could’ve taken care of the children while he was at work. Looking at the time frame that these physicians lived in also supports my belief that gender would’ve effected their careers. They lived in the 1800′s. That was a time where the men went out into the workforce, and women stayed at home to raise and teach their children. Elizabeth Blackwell was clearly not a stay-at-home kind of woman, and entered a field of primarily men. I do think that Samuel Dickson was more socially accepted as a phsyician because he was male, but I think that Elizabeth Blackwell’s was more successful as a physcian.

I chose to compare Amy Vedder to none other than her very own husband, Bill Weber.  Since they worked together their whole lives, wrote a book together, and founded the Mountain Gorilla Project together, I thought it would be interesting to see how they individually received credit for these accomplishments.

Amy Vedder and Bill Weber grew up together.  They went to the same college, and both volunteered with the U.S. Peace Corps right after graduation.  They studied in the same African environment, the only difference being their focus.  Amy focused on habitat and lifestyle of gorillas that led to their endangerment in Africa, while Bill focused more on the social and economic styles of the Rwandan people that influenced the extinction of the gorillas.

I do not think that gender influenced either of these scientists.  They received the same education, had the same experiences in the Peace Corps, and were both recognized for the accomplishments in the same manner.

I chose to research Seymour Kety as my male comparison or counterpart to my previously researched female scientist Nancy Wexler. Seymour Kety is an American neuroscientist who has exceptional influence in regards to schizophrenia on a genetic level. I chose to research him in comparison to Nancy for several reasons. First, they both lived in a vaguely close time period, he being born in 1915 and she being born in 1945. In addition, both were largely linked to the field of genetics. Kety made breakthroughs in the regards to genetic links and factors of the mental disease schizophrenia. Wexler made giant leaps in regards to Huntington’s genetic cause. Lastly, both scientists were highly successful in their fields, both even becoming heads of major establishments, Kety being the director of the National Institutes of Mental Health and Wexler being the director of the Hereditary Disease Foundation.

Both scientists share striking similarities, but also major differences in their lives. Both scientists went to upstanding colleges, Nancy went to Harvard University’s Radcliffe College and later on the University of Michigan, while Kety attended the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, both found fulfillment in research, Wexler went on to research the disease that profoundly affected her personal life, while Kety research cerebral circulation and genetic links to schizophrenia. Moreover, both became directors of influential institutions(as previously stated above), and both received the Albert Lasker award. These scientists also share a number of differences as well. While Kety married, Wexler never has. In addition, Kety did not possess the personal connection that Wexler had to her work and research.

As for the role of gender influencing the discrepancies among these two scientists, I do not believe that it played a crucial role. Wexler and Kety both have led highly successful lives in their given career paths. I believe that what defined their differences most of all was not the difference of gender, but of the personal connection Wexler has to her work and research. Wexler’s career path has been carved not so much by her gender, but by the disease that affected her family so deeply.

Seymour Kety A powerpoint about neuroscientist Seymour Kety, the counterpart to Nancy Wexler, enjoy!

Butler, Robert N. “Seymour Kety.” Geriatrics 55.8 (2000): 3. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24

Oct. 2011.

Butler, Robert N. “Seymour Kety.” Geriatrics 55.8 (2000): 3. Health Source – Consumer Edition. EBSCO.

Web. 24 Oct. 2011.

Holzman, Philip S. “Seymour S. Kety 1915-2000.” Nature Medicine July 2000: 727. Academic Search

Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Oct. 2011.