Mary Harris Thompson, MD

Mary Harris Thompson attended medical school at the New England Female Medical College in Boston, MA. While there, she interned at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and studied under Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female to attend medical school in the United States. After her studies, Dr. Thompson traveled to Chicago where she cared for Civil War Veterans’ families. In 1868 Dr. Thompson established the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children. Shortly after, in 1870, Dr. Thompson created the Woman’s Hospital Medical College in conjunction with her hospital. In 1892, Northwestern absorbed the school and it was renamed Northwestern University Women’s Medical School where Dr. Thompson served as a professor of gynecology until her death in 1895.