Maude Abbott

Born: March 18, 1868
Died: September 2,1940
Place of Birth: St. Andrews East, Quebec

• Maude Abbott lost both parents when she was still an infant.

• Her grandmother adopted Abbott and her sister, Alice, and made sure they were home schooled.

• A new high school for girls was built in Montreal and Maude took advantage.

• Upon graduation, Maude Abbott entered McGill University which had just started to permit girls.

• Maude gained her BA degree in 1890 and was the class valedictorian.

• She was not permitted into the McGill medical program because she was a woman.

• Instead, she went to Bishop's College graduating in 1894 with a medical degree and the senior anatomy award.

• The sisters decided to travel to Europe but Alice contacted a brain disease leaving Maude to care for her over the next 40 years.

• In 1897, Maude Abbott opened her own clinic treating women and children and began doing research work in pathology.

• The following year McGill University hired her to be the curator of their medical museum.

• Her work here was so successful that McGill began to have it included as part of their medical program.

• In 1907 she was recogized as a leading authority on congenital heart disease after her research was published.

• The university that wouldn't accept Maude Abbott in its medical program presented her an honorary medical degree in 1910.

• Abbott began to publish numerous papers and books including one in 1936 called "The Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease".

• The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame accepted Maude Abbott posthumously in 1994.

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Last Updated: February 18, 2011
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