Dorothy Reed Mendenhall

Dorothy Mabel Reed Mendenhall
Dorothy Reed Mendenhall
Born	(1874-09-22)September 22, 1874 Columbus, Ohio
Died	July 31, 1964(1964-07-31) (aged 89) Chester, Connecticut
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Smith College Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Dorothy Mabel Reed Mendenhall (September 22, 1874–July 31, 1964) was a prominent pediatric physician specializing in cellular pathology. In 1901 she discovered that Hodgkin's disease was not a form of tuberculosis, by noticing the presence of the cell (Reed-Sternberg cell) characteristic of the disease. Dorothy was one of the first females to graduate from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, after which she stayed for an internship year in pathology. She was one of the first professionally trained female physicians of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Dorothy Mabel Reed was born on September 22, 1874 in Columbus, Ohio as the third child to parents Grace Kimball and William Pratt Reed. With parents of prominence and privilege, Dorothy lived on a large estate with her parents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, and several cousins. In 1880, William Reed died of diabetes and tuberculosis, leaving the family with a large sum of money While living on the estate, Dorothy was educated by her grandmother followed by a governess.

Formal education began at Smith College in 1895 where Dorothy discovered her passion of medicine in a biology class sophomore year. After discovering that Johns Hopkins School of Medicine had begun to accept women Dorothy took required science courses at MIT then applied to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Upon the acceptance of women into Johns Hopkins School of Medicine four women were determined for their sex to be accepted at the same standard as men. Having raised money for the Women’s Fund Committee the school opened for males and females.

Dorothy graduated fourth in her class in 1900, and was awarded a prestigious internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, serving under Dr. William Osler. Originally Dr. Osler did not want Dorothy attending the school and told her it was not a place for women. Though this comment could show that Dr. Osler did not want women in his school he said later he did not want to be seen as hostile to women entering the medical school. Being accepted as a woman was a continual challenge in the male dominated field of medicine at that time. Both professors and other students expressed to her that medical education was wasted on a woman since she would just get married and have children and never practice medicine.