Women doctors are the focus of a new traveling exhibition on display at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences from October 10 through November 30. “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians” tells the extraordinary story of how American women who wanted to practice medicine have struggled over the past two centuries to gain access to medical education and to work in the medical specialty they chose. The University of Iowa Libraries is one of only 60 libraries across the country that has been awarded the traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine.

Since the mid-1800s, when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to earn an M.D. degree, women have made enormous strides in every area of the health sciences and have achieved success in work once considered “unsuitable” for women. Women are now found in every branch of health care. They are researchers on the cutting edge of new medical discoveries, educators, surgeons, family practitioners, specialists and government officials. “Changing the Face of Medicine” features the life stories of a rich diversity of women physicians from around the nation and highlights the broad range of medical specialties women are involved in today.

The University of Iowa has a long tradition of opening doors to women who wish to pursue higher education and careers in health care. The University of Iowa was the first public university in the U.S. to admit men and women on an equal basis. The UI Carver College of Medicine was the first co-educational medical school in the country, with eight women in the first class. The College of Dentistry’s first graduating class in 1883 had several women in it. Iowa has also been a leader in academic medicine in other ways; the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, established in 1898, was the first university-based teaching hospital west of the Mississippi. Today more than half of the students entering medical school at Iowa are women.

Two interactive kiosks traveling with the exhibition offer access to the “Local Legends” web site, which features outstanding women physicians from every state, and to a web site created for the larger exhibition. The exhibition web site offers access to educational and professional resources for people considering medicine as a career, as well as lesson plans for classroom activities. A section of the web site called “Share Your Story,” allows the public to add the names and biographies of women physicians they know.

“Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians” 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. The 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.

“We are delighted to have been selected as a site for this exhibition," says Linda Walton, Associate University Librarian and Director of the Hardin Library. “Although ‘Changing the Face of Medicine’  focuses on women in medicine, its lessons about persistence, dedication, and courage in one’s life choices speak to everyone—men and women and young adults—and to people in all lines of work.”

The UI Libraries is sponsoring free programs and other events for the public in connection with the exhibition.