Bertha Van Hoosen

Bertha Van Hoosen (March 26, 1863 – June 7, 1952) was an American surgeon devoted to women's health issues and the advancement of fellow women surgeons. Among other notable achievements, Van Hoosen was the first president and a founder of the American Medical Women's Association in 1915 and the first woman to be head of a medical division at a coeducational university. She published an autobiography detailing her personal experiences in medicine, Petticoat Surgeon.

Early life Bertha Van Hoosen was born to parents Joshua Van Hoosen, a farmer, and Sarah Ann Taylor, a teacher, in 1863 in Stony Creek, Michigan (now part of Rochester Hills). She grew up on her parents' farm and attended high school in Pontiac, Michigan, graduating at the age of 17.

Education Soon after graduation, Van Hoosen enrolled at the University of Michigan. During her undergraduate education she was drawn to the study of medicine, compelled by the opportunity to spend the rest of her life learning and advancing. As such, upon receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in the University of Michigan's literary study in 1884, Van Hoosen enrolled in the University of Michigan's medical department.

Van Hoosen received almost no support in her pursuit of medical education. As her parents did not agree with her career choice and therefore would not fund her studies, she was tasked with paying her own tuition by working as an obstetrical nurse, an anatomy demonstrator, and a schoolteacher.

Despite this challenge, compounded with frequent harassment from male students,

In 1913, Van Hoosen became chief of the gynecological staff at Cook County Hospital in Chicago – the first woman to receive a civil service appointment at a hospital.

alt=An audience attending a surgical procedure overseen by Dr Bertha Van Hoosen.

Throughout her career, Van Hoosen developed, illustrated, and promoted many medical techniques, including the "buttonhole" appendectomy surgical technique, the use of scopolamine-morphine as an anesthetic, and the emphasis on hygiene and sterilization of medical instruments to prevent infection.

Travels

As recounted in the documentary Pioneer Family on Van Hoosen Farm, largely based on the account in Petticoat Surgeon, Van Hoosen was an extensive world traveler. In 1909 she used her first international convention in Budapest to start a year-long tour of Europe and parts of Africa. In 1929 she traveled via the Spanish liner Alfonso XIII with her sister Alice and was invited to Florence to meet with Pope Pius XII. In the year following the death of her mother, Bertha traveled with Alice and her niece Sarah via Honolulu to New Zealand, Australia and then to China and Japan. Their arrival in Japan coincided with the 1923 Great Kant%C5%8D earthquake.

Legacy

A plaque honoring Dr. Van Hoosen was erected in 1992 by the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and the Illinois State Historical Society inside the Fine Arts Building in Chicago. That building was a center of the women's rights movement during the 1910s, serving as home of the American Medical Women's Association as well as headquarters for the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association from 1910 until 1919 — the year that Illinois became the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. To qualify for the award, a woman must be an active member in the American Medical Women's Association for a minimum of five years.

She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1984.