Heritage Snapshot: Part 197

In September, 1905, Ellen G. White, co-founder of Loma Linda University, invited Julia Ann White, MD (Class of 1900, American Medical Missionary College, Battle Creek, Michigan), to connect with the Loma Linda Sanitarium as soon as possible. Shortly after her arrival on November 5, 1905, Dr. White became its "First Lady Physician." In order to provide nursing care for Sanitarium patients, with help of some well-trained nurses from the world famous Battle Creek Sanitarium, she started nursing instruction almost immediately. By 1915 leadership of the Nurses’ Training School transitioned from Dr. White to qualified nurses. One of the subsequent deans, Maxine Atteberry, RN, maintained, however, that the School owes a debt of gratitude to "this remarkable doctor." She laid the foundation for the school—a school that is recognized nationally and internationally for its sound educational program and quality nurses. When the Seventh-day Adventist Church founded the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists in 1909, its Articles of Incorporation authorized 10 board members to serve two-year terms of office. That first Board of Trustees included two women: Drs. Julia A. White and Lucinda A. Marsh. The CME Board minutes for January 7, 1910, listed the first CME faculty of 15 teachers, including Dr. White, who taught obstetrics and gynecology, and Dr. Marsh, who taught pediatrics. Early Loma Linda was noted for health care clinics, and Dr. White pioneered many of them. She opened treatment rooms in Riverside, San Bernardino, and Redlands, where she demonstrated “rational” methods of therapy and delivered health lectures. She also made horse-and-buggy house calls up to 10 miles from the Hill, and sometimes had to depend on her horse to get her back home on dark nights. The early CME faculty was made up mainly of graduates of the American Medical Missionary College, Battle Creek, Michigan. Along with Drs. White and Marsh were Lyra E. George, MD, Florence A. Keller, MD, and Lillian E. Magan, MD. In 1910 Ellen White took up the cause of Women in Medicine. “We should have more women physicians than we have,” she wrote. That same year, the Abraham Flexner Report, financed by the Carnegie Foundation, advised the American medical community that some of the financial resources required for medical education should be going to women. Also, intern privileges should be granted to them too. Flexner later noted, however, that after obtaining this right, not many women entered medical schools. The following year (1911), Ellen White further recommended that men and women should be educated equally: “It is considered most essential that men desiring to practice medicine shall receive the broad training necessary for the following of such a profession. It is just as essential that women receive such training and obtain their diplomas certifying their right to act as physicians. There should be a much larger number of lady physicians.” Dr. White not only taught medical and nursing students, but in 1916 became the Secretary of the Pacific Union Conference in charge of the “Woman’s Movement” for gathering funds to build the Ellen G. White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. By the end of 1969, approximately 24,000 women physicians lived in the United States and its possessions. Some 20,300 were professionally active. That is, 17,400 in direct patient care and 2,900 in teaching, administration, and research. Most of the women specialized in pediatrics, psychiatry, general practice, and internal medicine. Yet, in 1971, the shortage of female physicians still appeared to be a problem in America. Nationwide, only 6.5% of the physicians in America were female, compared to 26.5% in England, Scotland and Wales. To say nothing of 75% in the Soviet Union. Even though only an estimated 1.7% of female medical school graduates failed to work, one of the classic arguments against admitting more women to medical schools was simply that they would get married and fail to practice medicine. On the other hand, others argued, “Women lived seven to ten years longer, and therefore could practice longer.” Because the vast majority of medical students in the United States were men, some assumed that prejudice limited the number of women admitted. In reviewing the numbers, however, the percentage of applicants accepted was approximately equal for both sexes. Few women entered American medical schools because of attitudes within the profession and in society. Boys were reared to choose interesting, prestigious, and rewarding careers. Girls were taught to become good wives and mothers. The percentage of women accepted into the CME/LLU School of Medicine reflects what has happened in America through the years. The first graduate of the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University School of Medicine) was Zoe Nightingale, a relative of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer modern nurse known as “the lady with the lamp,” as she made night rounds during the Crimean War. The first five CME classes numbered about one third women. Then, in 1919 and 1920, there were no women. Over the years, starting in 1978, the number of women admitted to the School of Medicine has increased so much so that in 2007 and 2008, the number exceeded 50 percent.