Introduction

Harvard Medical School has a long history regarding women students and faculty members.

Harvard Medical School was established in 1782, and the first documented application of a women student was in 1847. The request came amidst debate over the role of women in medicine. 1848 saw the opening of the first women's medical college, New England Female Medical College, and 1849 saw the graduation of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to earn an MD in the United States, from New York's Geneva Medical College. 

Despite increasing numbers of women medical students, doctors, physicians, and scientists, Harvard Medical School did not open its doors to women students until 1945. The first class of women was allowed to attend Harvard Medical School as a result of a lack of qualified male applicants during World War II. Even then women students were accepted on a ten year trial basis to see if women could be productive and successful medical students.

The first woman to do research at Harvard Medical School was Ida Hyde in 1896, and women gave instruction at Harvard Medical School as early as 1910, including Myrtelle Canavan, Louise Eisenhardt, and Emma Moors. The first woman professor was Alice Hamilton, who was hired at the rank of associate professor. The first woman full professor, Grete Bibring, was not promoted until 1961.

Women have thrived at Harvard Medical School, and now about 50% of incoming students are women, a parity reached in the 1994, although in 2017, only 18% of full professors at Harvard Medical School are women. If we’re training classes of equal numbers of men and women, what can we do to support women in academic medicine?