Women’s History Month: Five inspiring women who have shaped health care

Women have been making profound contributions to the fields of science and medicine for generations, often overcoming gender bias and smashing stereotypes to do so.

In honor of their ongoing contributions, we share the stories of five women whose achievements — from refining cancer treatments to engineering new biotechnology to advocating for the most vulnerable — have saved countless lives and inspired future generations of trailblazers. These stories include highlights from a variety of websites listed at the end of this article.

Virginia Apgar, MD

(1909 – 1974)
Pioneering anesthesiologist

Virginia Apgar, MD, is best known for developing the first standardized method for assessing the health of newborn babies; however, her legacy encompasses much more.

Dr. Apgar was a leader in the field of anesthesiology at a time when it was just emerging as a professional medical specialty. In 1938, she became the director of the new Division of Anesthesiology at Presbyterian Hospital (what is now New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center) where she established the anesthesiology education program and coordinated anesthesiology services and research. In 1949, Dr. Apgar, by then a renowned teacher, went on to become the first woman to be appointed full professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

During this time, she studied the effects of anesthesia on women and babies during the labor and delivery process, experiences that would lead her to develop the Apgar Score in 1952. Still in use today around the world, this test measures a newborn’s skin color, pulse, reflexes, muscle tone and breathing shortly after birth, in order to indicate which babies may benefit from further medical attention. The Apgar Score has been instrumental in lowering infant mortality rates and also helped inspire the development of neonatology, a pediatric subspeciality that focuses on the medical care of newborns.

Jane Cooke Wright, MD

(1919 – 2013)
Eminent cancer researcher

Physician-scientist Jane Cooke Wright, MD, made a lasting impact on the field of oncology. After completing her medical training, Dr. Wright went to work with her father — one of the first Black graduates of Harvard Medical School — at the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital.

There, Dr. Wright and her father tested anti-cancer treatments in clinical trials with patients who had leukemias and lymphomas, with many of the participants achieving some level of remission. Dr. Wright also developed new techniques for administering chemotherapy, helping to establish it as a viable treatment. At the age of 33, she became head of the Cancer Research Foundation.

By 1964, Dr. Wright had caught the attention of the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke. The commission’s efforts would lead to a network of treatment centers for these diseases throughout the U.S. Dr. Wright would go on to become the first female president of the New York Cancer Society and to cofound the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Katalin Karikó, PhD

(1955 – present)
Innovative biochemist

Katalin Karikó, PhD, is a biochemist whose groundbreaking research helped pave the way for the development of the COVID-19 vaccines. Originally from Hungary, Karikó emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s to pursue her research into the therapeutic prospects of messenger RNA (mRNA).

mRNA is a molecule that delivers instructions to the cells in our body about how to make proteins, which are critical for a variety of processes, such as growth, digestion and healing just to name a few. Karikó studied how mRNA could be used for a slightly different purpose: teaching cells how to combat disease.

At the time, many in the scientific community deemed the idea to be radical. For decades, despite being turned down for many grants, Karikó persevered with her research, and her persistence paid off. She and her collaborator, Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, developed the mRNA technology that serves as the basis for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Today, Karikó is an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania as well as a senior vice president at BioNTech.

Nanette Kass Wenger, MD

(1930 – present)
Cardiology icon

For many years, the prevailing medical wisdom was that heart disease primarily afflicts men. Of course, we now know that is not true, thanks in large part to Nanette Kass Wenger, MD, one of the first physicians to study heart disease in women. Throughout her more than 50-year career, Dr. Wenger authored and co-authored more than 1,000 scientific articles and book chapters in the field of cardiology. Her scientific discoveries have played a significant role in reducing death and disability from heart disease, which is the leading cause of death for woman in the United States.

In addition to being a distinguished cardiologist, Dr. Wenger was a beloved mentor, teacher and leader within the medical community. Her achievements have been recognized with dozens of accolades. In 1976, she was listed as one of Time magazine’s “Women of the Year,” and in 2009 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology. Currently, Dr. Wenger is an emeritus professor of medicine at Emory University.

Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA

(1956 – present)
Dedicated family physician, national health leader

Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, served as the U.S. surgeon general from 2009-2013; however, her legacy of achievement and advocacy stretches back to rural Alabama, where she practiced family medicine.

Prior to becoming the nation’s leading physician, Dr. Benjamin founded the BayouClinic in Bayou La Batre, a small Gulf Coast fishing village where many residents live below the poverty level. Dr. Benjamin rebuilt the clinic three times following devastation by multiple hurricanes and a fire. The only doctor in Bayou La Batre, she was known for making house calls to patients while the clinic was being rebuilt. Among many other accolades, Dr. Benjamin was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation fellowship for her commitment to providing care for the medically underserved.

During her tenure as surgeon general, Dr. Benjamin focused on health promotion and disease prevention, in addition to overseeing more than 6,000 public health officers in locations around the world. Since 2013, she has served as the Nola.com/Times Picayune Endowed Chair in Public Health Sciences at Xavier University.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2022 and updated in March 2023.

Sources

• https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_12.html
• https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/cp/feature/biographical
• https://www.marchofdimes.org/about-us/mission/history/virginia-apgar-md
• https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_336.html
• https://www.nymc.edu/school-of-medicine-som/som-alumni-profiles/alumni-in-memoriam/jane-cooke-wright/
• https://www.pennmedicine.org/providers/profile/katalin-kariko
• https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/16/us/katalin-kariko-covid-19-vaccine-scientist-trnd/index.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-mrna-kariko.html
• https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_330.html
• https://www.amwa-doc.org/awards__trashed/blackwell-exhibit/nanette-kass-wenger-md/
• http://www.emoryhealthsciblog.com/tag/nanette-wenger/
• https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_31.html
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Regina-Benjamin