Eliza Ellen Leonard

Eliza Ellen Leonard (November 16, 1866 – October 17, 1924) was an American physician, Presbyterian medical missionary, and college dean. Based in Peking, she was Dean of the North China Union Medical College for Women from 1915 until just before her death in 1924.

Early life Eliza Ellen Leonard was born in Kossuth County, Iowa, and raised in Fairfield, Iowa, the daughter of William Patterson Leonard and Catherine Ashton Barr Leonard. She graduated from Parsons College in 1888, and earned a medical degree at the University of Michigan in 1895.

Career Eliza Ellen Leonard, from her 1918 U.S. passport application Leonard taught school for a few years between college and medical school. though she was reported killed or "probably slain" in some American newspapers.

Leonard helped build and lead the Douw Hospital for Women, and the Union Training School for Nurses. "Nurses' work used to be looked upon as menial service by educated young women," she wrote in 1912, "but that day is fast going by." She became dean of the North China Union Medical College for Women when it was founded, and moved with the school to Jinan. 1912 and in 1918, and lectured on her work to women's groups and church groups. Sometimes she wore "a full Manchu dress" with headdress and shoes, when addressing American audiences.

Leonard resigned as the first Dean of Women in 1924 due to illness. She was the first Dean of what became Cheeloo University.

Personal life Leonard died in Peking in 1924, aged 57 years, after several years with cancer.