Mary Floyd Cushman

Mary Floyd Cushman (July 24, 1870 – 1965) was an American physician and Christian missionary. She served as the Maine State Medical Board’s first female member and later as a medical missionary in Angola for 20 years. in Royalston, Massachusetts. Her father was the minister of the Trinitarian Parish in Castine, Maine, beginning in 1885 when Cushman was 15. Cushman went to college at Eastern State Maine Normal School in Castine, Maine, now Maine Maritime Academy. She graduated with honors in 1888 and continued her education, studying medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. In 1892, she earned her Medical Degree. Cushman cared for her elderly mother for 20 years prior to becoming a missionary. During this time, Cushman was appointed as the first woman member of the Maine State Medical Board.

Missionary service (1922–1953) In 1922, Cushman moved to Angola, West Africa, to serve as a medical missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. She was 52 years old. She also encouraged the people there to provide more advanced education for their children, so that they could run the hospital themselves.

Cushman also worked to promote the advancement of Christianity in her area of Angola. She worked alongside the church already there, encouraging the members and witnessing to her patients and others she came across.

In 1944, Cushman published a book she had written about her experiences called Missionary Doctor: The Story of Twenty Years in Africa.

In 2003, the Maine Medical Society established the Mary Floyd Cushman Award in her honor. Nominations are based on performing medical volunteer work as a doctor in the United States or internationally.

The Trinitarian Congregational Parish in Castine, Maine, maintains the Dr. Mary Cushman Circle to raise funds to continue to support missionary service locally and internationally.

Selected works Missionary Doctor: The Story of Twenty Years in Africa, 1944