Without women like Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and Dr. Mary Walker, Marla Ahlgrimm may have never had the opportunity to work in medicine. Here, the retired pharmacist reflects on her foremothers in the hopes that a new generation of female healthcare providers might remember that women were not always on top in the medical field.
Q: When were women first accepted as medical providers?
Marla Ahlgrimm: Women’s role in medicine actually dates back to ancient times. As far back as 1500 BCE, there were women studying medicine in Egypt. Greek mythology tells of four granddaughters of Apollo who were respected physicians.
Marla Ahlgrimm has co-authored two ground-breaking books,