Catherine Chisholm

Catherine Chisholm
Dr Catherine Chisholm C.B.E
Born	(1878-01-02)2 January 1878 Radcliffe, Lancashire
Died	21 July 1952(1952-07-21) (aged 74) Withington, Manchester Heart failure
Nationality	British
Fields	Paediatrics, Obstetrics
Institutions	Clapham Maternity Hospital, Eldwick Children's Santorium, Manchester Northern Hospital, Salford Hope Hospital, Manchester High School for Girls
Education	Victoria University of Manchester
Thesis	Menstrual molimina (1912)
Notable awards	C.B.E 1935, Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians 1949

Catherine Chisholm CBE (2 January 1878 – 21 July 1952) was a British physician and the first female medical graduate of the University of Manchester. She was instrumental in founding the Manchester Babies Hospital, which was opened on 4 August 1914, contributing to her reputation as one of the founders of modern neonatology practice. She was awarded a CBE in 1935 and became the first female Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1949.

Chisholm was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire, a small town near Manchester. She was the eldest daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie Chisholm, himself a graduate of medicine from the University of Edinburgh, and general practitioner in the area. He was supportive of the idea that women should practice medicine at a time when few women were admitted to university to study medicine; and he encouraged Catherine by taking her on his rounds as a GP.

Chisholm entered Owens College, Manchester, in 1895, graduating with a B.A. in Classics in 1898. She was also awarded the Bishop Lee Greek Testament Prize. She entered the then Owens College Medical School in the University the following year as the first female student to do so – eventually graduating in medicine (MB ChB) from the Victoria University of Manchester, with a first-class degree in forensic medicine, obstetrics, surgery, and pathology.

Following graduation her first year of residency was as a medical officer at Clapham Maternity Hospital, one of the few hospitals in the county that employed only women doctors. She then undertook a further six month placement at Eldwick Children's Sanatorium in Bingley, Yorkshire.