One cold winter night, on my way to have dinner with friends, I got stuck in traffic. There had been an accident at the lights ahead. As I sat there in the dark and the wet, waiting for the mess to be cleared, I glanced across the road. There on a noticeboard outside a rundown weatherboard church was a message Unless you change direction you will end up where you are going. Its a sign, I said, Ha ha! But I had already taken the message to heart. Paul...

Tells the story of Mary Walker, a remarkable woman who challenged traditional roles and lived life on her own terms.

Provides a brief introduction to Elizabeth Blackwell, her accomplishments, and her impact on history.

Born in England and raised by a progressive father, an abolitionist who also believed women were equal to men, Elizabeth Blackwell is famous for becoming America's first woman doctor. But her story is far more complex. Students will be interested to learn that Blackwell was denied the ability to practice medicine, simply because she was a woman. Her insistence on breaking barriers, as well as opening doors for other women, will teach students the...

In the early 1800s, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness-- a diagnosis could greatly limit their ability to find husbands, jobs or be received in polite society. Motivated by personal loss and frustration over inadequate medical care, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth...

"A pediatric oncologist and palliative care physician, Dr. Adam B. Hill, suffers stress and disillusionment with the culture of medicine, leading to alcoholism, depression and suicidal thoughts. Then while in recovery from active addiction, he loses a mentor to suicide, revealing the extent of the burnout epidemic in the medical field. By sharing his harrowing story, Dr. Hill shows how this problem manifests, considers ways to address it, and confronts...

Read how because of his efforts, today Hippoocrates is known as the father of medicine.

Octogenarian and scientific expert in the field of anti-aging, Peter T. Pugliese, shares his personal recollections of the rural family practice in Pennsylvania Dutch country, where he began his career in medicine.

The amazing tale of "County" is the story of one of America's oldest and most unusual urban hospitals. From its inception as a "poor house" dispensing free medical care to indigents, Chicago's Cook County Hospital has been renowned as a teaching hospital and the healthcare provider of last resort for the city's uninsured. Ansell covers more than thirty years of its history, beginning in the late 1970s when the author began his internship, to the "Final...

Stories of twenty-one courageous women from the 1800's to the present focused on finding cures, tending the sick and wounded, and healing with science and compassion. Readers meet groundbreakers such as Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States; Mary Carson Breckinridge, the "nurse on horseback" who delivered babies in the Appalachian Mountains; and heart surgeon Kathy Magliato, one of the few women trained...