Mina MacKenzie

Life A daughter of farmers Simon and Ann (Murray) MacKenzie, she was born August 18, 1872, in Waterside, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada; she was the youngest of 14 children. MacKenzie led her class in surgery and graduated from Dalhousie University in 1904 as one of the university's earliest female doctors.

After working in Boston to raise tuition money to enable her sister Molly to also complete a medical degree from Dalhousie, MacKenzie left America in September 1904 and traveled to India to work as a medical missionary with the Women’s Union Missionary Society of America. In 1909, MacKenzie established the Broadwell Christian Hospital in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, where she and her sister Mary worked for many years. MacKenzie's tireless efforts helped control the cholera epidemic during the 1917 Kumbh Mela pilgrimage.

MacKenzie returned to Canada in 1920 to nurse her father; after his death in 1922, she returned to India to work with the 44 children who she had adopted during her time there.