Putting Science to Work: Women Healers and the Pursuit of Medical Knowledge in Early Pennsylvania

November 14, 2023, 6-7:15pm Eastern Time

~ Sylvan E. Stool Memorial Lecture ~

Susan H. Brandt, PhD (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) 

The history of women physicians in the United States often begins with the 1850 founding of the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. However, mid-19th-century women physicians merely continued the legacies of other women healers from earlier centuries. In this talk based on her book, Women Healers: Gender, Authority, and Medicine in Early Philadelphia (2022), Susan Brandt argues that women not only were essential health care providers but also were on the frontlines of scientific knowledge production.

Dr. Sylvan Stool was a beloved pediatric ENT surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh. All Reynolds Society lectures are free and open to the public. You can find the recording of the lecture here.

Image description: The book cover of Women Healers: Gender, Authority, and Medicine in Early Philadelphia by Susan H. Brandt shows an artfully arranged collection of 18th-century medical artifacts, books, and plants.