Margaret Hie Ding Lin

Margaret Hie Ding Lin (March 17, 1890 or April 26, 1891

According to a 1954 California newspaper account, Lin was "born in Foochow, the third child of the Rev. Nik Sing Lin, for 20 years minister in the American Born Mission at Foochow, and Mrs. Lin. Mrs. Lin, a teacher in primary school at the mission, was so disappointed because her third born was a girl that she insisted she be educated as a boy." Lin was brought to the U.S. at age 13 by "missionary guardians." Dr. Lin was the first woman to pass the Illinois state medical board exam. She and Dr. Janet Wang were photographed together as novel female doctors "from the Far East" in 1946. Lin became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1954.

In Illinois she also worked at the Cook County Tuberculosis Hospital "and tended Chinatown patients during weekends." Lin was a member of the American Medical Association, the Women's Medical Association, and the Chicago Medical Society. Dr. Lin died in 1973 and was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. The basketball courts at the South Loop neighborhood park are a popular filming location, used for TV commercials featuring Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose, and a scene from The Bear season four.