Women in Science & Medicine

Women in Science and Medicine. University of Minnesota. , Josephine Tilden , When Josephine Tilden completed her B.S. degree at the University of Minnesota in 1895, she had already published five papers on Minnesota algae. Tilden gained world renown as an authority on algar, specializing in the flora of the Pacific Ocean and contributing more than 50 publications to the scientific literature., Cornelia Kennedy , During nutritional scientist Cornelia Kennedy's 40 years at the University (1908–48), she was the only female faculty member in her department. In her master's thesis (1916), she was the first to identify vitamins A and B. Kennedy researched thiamin and other nutritional elements, as well as the influence of genetics on nutritional needs, foot utilization, and growth., Katharine Densford , As the third director of the University's School of Nursing, Katharine Densford inherited a program that had been established in 1909 as the nation's first university-based nursing school. During her 29-year tenure (1930–59), she created programs in pediatric, rural, psychiatric, and practical nursing and introduced master's programs in nursing education and administration., Ruth Boynton , Spurred by the early deaths of her mother and two brothers, Ruth Boynton dedicated her life to medicine. She joined the Student Health Service staff in 1922 as its first female physician. In 1936, she became its director. Over the next 25 years, Boynton developed one of the most comprehensive college health programs in the world, championing preventative medicine and health education, and expanding programs in tuberculosis control and in environmental and mental health., Twenty-First Century Scientists , Early 21st century groundbreaking research by University of Minnesota women scientists includes Karen Hsiao Ashe's work to find a preventative treatment for Alzheimer's disease; Meri Firpo's stem cell research that aims to cure type 1 diabetes; Dorothy Hatsukami's work to create a vaccine to prevent a nicotine addiction; and Doris Taylor's effort to build a transplantable heart from a patient's own cells.,

1. Botanist Josephine Tilden , 2. Cornelia Kennedy (top row, ninth from the right) among the biochemistry faculty, 1940 , 3. School of Nursing graduates, 1916 , 4. World War II Cadet Corps induction ceremony, 1944 , 5. Katharine Densford, 1952 , 6. Ruth Boynton, 1936 , 7. Karen Hsiao Ashe , 8. Astronomy professor Roberta Humphreys, who demonstrated an upper limit to the masses of stars that can evolve to become red supergiants