Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Amilu Martin Stewart, Amilu Martin Stewart, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Stewart spent her career as a surgeon and was in the first class of women who graduated from the Jefferson Medical College. When she started medical school she was married with a newborn baby, and even when her second child was born during her third year, she was only able to take a week off in order to retain her place within the medical college Despite an initial interest in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Stewart pursued a residency in general surgery and a fellowship in transplantation surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She maintained an active …

Barbara Tenney, Barbara Tenney, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Tenney knew from a very young age she wanted to become a pediatrician and first discovered her love of interacting with patients as a candy striper. After graduating from Wilson College she attended Jefferson Medical College, graduating in 1971. She then completed her fellowship and residency at New York University - Bellevue Hospital Center, where she helped establish a child abuse team. She left NYU and Bellevue Hospital Center for West Virginia for three years before rejoining the NYU faculty and becoming the Director of Pediatrics at Booth Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Tenney eventually joined a group practice in …

Kathleen Mcnicholas, Kathleen Mcnicholas, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. McNicholas graduated from Chestnut Hill College and worked in Radiation Oncology at the Stein Center before coming to Jefferson Medical College in 1969. Dr. McNicholas had a passion for medicine from a young age, in part because her father was a doctor and Jefferson grad. She first discovered her interest in surgery after working closely with Dr. John Templeton while a student and taking a surgery elective at Chestnut Hill Hospital. Upon graduation Dr. McNicholas went to Columbia, where she completed her internship, residency, and fellowship in Cardiac Surgery. In addition to her career as a cardiac surgeon Dr. …

Nancy Szwec Czarnecki, Nancy Czarnecki, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Czarnecki was both the first woman to matriculate to and the first woman to graduate from Jefferson Medical College. She first learned that Jefferson was accepting women students from a newspaper notice while still at Temple University. After graduating Alpha Omega Alpha she continued her training in family medicine at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia. She then went on to form a family practice with her husband in Port Richmond. Upon leaving private practice in the early 1990’s Dr. Czarnecki became the Senior Medical Director at Prudential Healthcare and later the Patient Management Medical Director for Aetna’s Northeast Region.

Over …

Marie Olivieri Russell And Sarah Sundborg Long, Sarah Long, Marie Russell, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Marie Olivieri Russell

Dr. Russell attended Jefferson Medical College where she graduated top of her class in 1970. In addition to being the first woman to receive the Alumni Prize for highest cumulative GPA, in 1971 she became the first student to serve as a full voting member of the Board of Trustees at Jefferson. After graduation she completed both a residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia before continuing on as a part of their academic staff until 1981 and managing the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program. After leaving Children’s and academic …

Anita Robinson, Anita Robinson, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Robinson attended Morgan State University in Baltimore for her undergraduate degree before coming to the University of Pennsylvania for graduate school. However, she soon realized that she was more interested in medicine than bench research so after completing her first year of graduate school she transferred to Jefferson Medical College. After graduating in 1974 Dr. Robinson went to Martin Luther King Junior General Hospital in Los Angeles for her residency in Pediatrics. She then went to New York University to pursue a fellowship in Adolescent Pediatrics. Upon finishing her fellowship she worked briefly at DC General Hospital before accepting …

Mary Osbakken, Mary Osbakken, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Osbakken graduated from the University of Illinois with her undergraduate degree and Master’s degree in Physiology before coming to Jefferson to complete a PhD in Physiology. After graduating in 1969 she began teaching at Beaver College (now Arcadia University) and concurrently pursuing a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University. She then went on to earn an M.D. from Temple University Medical School. Dr. Osbakken completed her internship at Pennsylvania Hospital before taking fellowships in Cardiology and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at Temple University Medical School, University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital. After her fellowships she worked …

Anna Marie D'Amico, Anna Marie D'Amico, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. D’Amico entered Jefferson Medical College in 1968 after spending three years as a biology major at Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. After graduating from Jefferson in 1972 she did her internship and residency at Wilmington General Hospital before going into practice on her own in 1976. Dr. D’Amico retired from practice in 2007. Since then she has volunteered at the Claymont Family Health Clinic, a clinic for the uninsured, and from 2009-2011 she was the Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Delaware. Most recently she is the Medical Director of a new medical spa.

Dr. D’Amico has …

Bonnie Lee Ashby, Bonnie Lee Ashby, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Ashby completed her undergraduate studies at Wilson College before attending Jefferson Medical College, where she graduated in 1968. She did both her internship and residency at Bryn Mawr Hospital before accepting an infectious disease fellowship at Lankenau Hospital. Dr. Ashby is still in practice today as a general practitioner and Infectious Disease specialist in Bryn Mawr. She is also the Medical Director of the Quadrangle Life Care Community in Haverford, PA.

Margaret Libonati Leahy, Margaret Libonati, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Libonati wanted to be a physician from an early age, but she knew that she could not afford to attend college right after high school so she decided to attend nursing school with plans to work her way through college and then medical school. After graduating from St. Joseph’s Nursing School she enrolled as a chemistry major in the Chestnut Hill College Pre-Med program. At the end of her second year she learned that Jefferson Medical College was planning to accept women for the first time. She soon became one of the first women in Jefferson’s Class of 1965. …

Sonia Schorr Sloan, Sonia Sloan, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Ms. Sonia Schorr Sloan received her Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University in 1949. Upon graduation she went to Jefferson Medical College to pursue a Master of Science degree in Microbiology, where she became the first woman to receive any degree from the University. From Jefferson Ms. Sloan went to teach in the Department of Microbiology at Temple Medical School for two years before being hired as the first woman to work in the Central Research Department at DuPont. From the 1950s onward Ms. Sloan has been involved with a variety of community and political organizations, many of them …

Carolyn Parry Decker, Carolyn Decker, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Parry, a Pennsylvania native, graduated from Abington Friends School in 1957. She went on to attend Beaver College (now Arcadia University), where she graduated in 1961 before coming to Jefferson Medical College, becoming a member of the first class to accept women. After graduating in 1965, Dr. Parry completed an internship at Chestnut Hill Hospital before returning to Jefferson to complete her residency in Radiology.

Dr. Parry went on to become an Assistant Professor in Radiology at Jefferson Medical College and subsequently a Clinical Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine. At Pennsylvania Hospital, …

Merle Gross Salerno Edelstein, Merle Edelstein, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Dr. Edelstein is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who works with children, adolescents, and adults. After graduating from Jefferson Medical College in 1965 with the first class of women, she completed her internship at Bryn Mawr and did her residency training in Psychiatry at Hahneman University Hospital and Albert Einstein Medical Center. She did her analytic training at the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis.

Kay Ellen Burdette Frank And Linda Lane Izquierdo, Linda Izquierdo, Ellen Frank, Kelsey Duinkerken

First Women at Jefferson Oral Histories

Kay Ellen Burdette Frank

Dr. Frank graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia before starting at Jefferson Medical College in 1965. Dr. Frank completed her residency in Ophthalmology in Cleveland and then spent nineteen years on the staff at Case Western Reserve University. From there she went to Kaiser, where she worked for eighteen years before retiring and moving to West Virginia.

Linda Lane Izquierdo

Dr. Izquierdo attended the College of William and Mary for her undergraduate degree and received her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1969. She continued her training in Radiology at Temple University and Case …