Sara Josephine Baker

Sara Josephine Baker
Sara Josephine Baker, 1922
Born	November 15, 1873 Poughkeepsie, New York
Died	February 22, 1945 (aged 71) Princeton, New Jersey
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	New York Infirmary Medical College
Known for	public health
Notable awards	Assistant Surgeon General, Professional Woman Rep. to the League of Nations

Sara Josephine Baker (November 15, 1873 – February 22, 1945) was an American physician notable for making contributions to public health, especially in the immigrant communities of New York City. Her fight against the damage that widespread urban poverty and ignorance caused to children, especially newborns, is perhaps her most lasting legacy. In 1917, she noted that babies born in the United States faced a higher mortality rate than soldiers fighting in World War I, drawing a great deal of attention to her cause. She also is known for (twice) tracking down Mary Mallon, the infamous index case known as Typhoid Mary.

Baker was born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1873 to a wealthy Quaker family. After her father and brother died of typhoid, Baker felt pressure to support her mother and sister financially. So, at the age of 16, Baker decided on a career in medicine.

After studying chemistry and biology at home, she enrolled in the New York Infirmary Medical College, a medical school for women, founded by the sisters and physicians Elizabeth Blackwell and Emily Blackwell. The only class she failed—"The Normal Child", taught by Dr. Anne Daniel—led to her fascination with the future recipient of her attention, "that little pest, the normal child". Upon graduating second in her class in 1898, Baker began a year-long internship at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston.

Baker began practicing as a private physician in New York City following her internship. In 1901, Baker passed the civil service exam and qualified to be a medical inspector at the Department of Health.

The way to keep people from dying from disease, it struck me suddenly, was to keep them from falling ill. Healthy people don’t die. It sounds like a completely witless remark, but at that time it was a startling idea. Preventative medicine had hardly been born yet and had no promotion in public health work.