Maude Abbott
Born: March 18, 1868
Died: September 2,1940
Place of Birth: St. Andrews East, Quebec
Major Notes:
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.
For detailed research and more information, check out the following:
McGill University
Inventive Women
Wikipedia
Science.ca
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Last Updated: February 12, 2009
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