First female physician admitted to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for residency: Who is Dorothy Reed Mendenhall?
The name Dorothy Reed Mendenhall is very familiar to physicians dealing with lymphoma. Because Dr. Reed is one of two scientists who simultaneously identified cells typical for the diagnosis of Hodgkin Lymphoma (Reed-Steinberg cells).
But that's not all that makes Dorothy Reed special.
Despite the opposition of her family because she was a woman, Reed attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and became a physician. Made a superhuman effort to establish herself in a male-dominated society, Dr. Reed is the first female physician admitted to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for residency.
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 a special cell, the Reed–Sternberg cell which bears her name. Dorothy was one of the first women to graduate from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She was also one of the first professionally trained female physicians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Reed's article describing her famous cells was written in 1902.
Dorothy Reed was one of the most well-known feminists in the United States at that time.
She has done studies emphasizing the importance of breast milk.
After 1917, Dorothy Reed spent her medical career working in the Office of Child Health, writing a book called “Milk is an Indispensable Food”.