CCNY Library to Host “Women in Medicine” Exhibit
The City College of New York’s (CCNY) Cohen Library will host Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians,” October 10 through November 30. The traveling exhibit, to be on display in the library atrium, was developed by the Exhibition Program of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine in collaboration with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. This will be its only showing in the New York metropolitan area.
Several events will be held at CCNY in connection with the exhibit:
Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford, President of the New York Academy of Medicine, featured in the exhibit, and an authority on global health, will be keynote speaker for an opening reception Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 6:00 PM in the Archives Reading Room. She will speak on “Women and Medicine: Leaders in Public Health and Health Policy.” Dr. Marthe R. Gold of the Sophie Davie School of Biomedical Education at The City College will offer opening remarks.
“A Lady Alone,” a one-act play about Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to obtain formal medical education in the United States, will be performed by actress Linda Kelley 4:30 p.m. Monday, October 22, in the Archives Reading Room. Prior to 1847, women did not have access to becoming doctors in the United States. An ardent medical and social reformer, Dr. Blackwell founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children in 1857, which still exists today as the New York Downtown Hospital. Dr. Bruce Logan, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the New York Downtown Hospital, will reflect upon the early days when poor women received care, women physicians could practice medicine, and female medical students could study and practice clinically.
Demographic changes in the U.S. population require a diverse physician workforce in terms of gender and ethnicity. Dr. Nereida Correa and Dr. Elizabeth Theresa Lee-Ray, both featured in the exhibit, are leaders in promoting cultural and linguistic competency in dealing with the Latino-Hispanic population. The program on “Women in Leadership positions in Medicine: Shattering the Glass Ceiling” to be presented in the Archives Reading Room on Monday, October 29, at 6:00PM will showcase their achievements. Dr. Erica I. Lubetkin of the Sophie Davie School of Biomedical Education at The City College will offer opening remarks.
CCNY is very pleased and very proud that the program on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 6:00PM covers the accomplishments of the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education alumnae: Dr. Traci Burgess (1989), Dr. Nicola Davis (1994), and Dr. Suzette Oyeku, (1997). They will discuss their experiences and strategies for “Breaking down Barriers of Racism and Sexism in Medicine” in the Archives Reading Room.
For details and a complete list of events please visit the City College Libraries exhibit web page at http://origin.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/library/events.html
This traveling exhibition has been made possible by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health. The American Medical Women’s Association provided additional support.
For more information on the Changing the Face of Medicine exhibition at City College, please call the Exhibition Coordinator at (212) 650-6826. Visit the exhibition web site at the National Library of Medicine to learn about the 330 woman physicians, selected from women in medicine throughout U.S. history, to be featured in this exhibit. Learn about their sources of inspiration, the challenges they faced, and their accomplishments at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/index.html
