Rosalie Slaughter Morton

Rosalie Slaughter Morton
Born
Blanche Rosalie Slaughter

(1872-10-16)October 16, 1872
DiedMay 5, 1968(1968-05-05) (aged 91)
Resting placeSpring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia
Alma materWoman's Medical College of Pennsylvania
OccupationPhysician
Known forCo-founder of the American Women's Hospitals Service and chairperson of the Public Health Education Committee
Spouse
George B. Morton Jr.
(m. 1905; died 1912)
AwardsCross of Czar Nicholas II
Joan of Arc medal
Conspicuous Service Cross

Rosalie Slaughter Morton (born Blanche Rosalie Slaughter; October 16, 1872 – May 5, 1968)[1] was an American physician, surgeon, and author. In addition to running her own medical practices, she became the first woman appointed as Attending Surgeon at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1916, and became the first chairperson of the American Women's Hospitals Service the following year. Morton served as a medic during the First World War, and was the first chair of the Public Health Education Committee. She was also one of the first women to join the faculty, and to later become a professor, at the Polyclinic Hospital of New York.

Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Morton studied at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania despite her family's expectation that she would aim to find a husband who could provide for her. She went on to conduct further study and research across Europe and Asia before returning to the United States to open her own medical practices.

In 1937 Morton published an autobiographyA Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton, and released a second book titled A Doctor's Holiday in Iran in 1940, both to positive reviews. She received a number of awards during her career, including the Conspicuous Service Cross. Rosalie Morton Park in Belgrade is named in her honor.

  1. ^ Q-6-50: Rosalie Slaughter Morton M.D. (1872–1968) (Historic marker). Lynchburg, Virginia: Virginia Department of Historic Resources. 2018.