Medical pioneer Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell honored 50 years ago, honored today

2014: Patricia Numann MD, first woman surgeon in Syracuse, with Upstate's portrait of Elizabeth Blackwell.

1964: Medical student Pat Numann, right, with Dr. Mary Voorhees, assistant professor of pediatrics, speaker at Upstate's first Elizabeth Blackwell Day.
A small but generous group of women alumni, faculty members and students conceived of the Blackwell recognition and donated the money to make it possible. Numann explains the modest numbers: “When I was a student, there were fewer that 15 women students in the entire medical school. And I was the only female surgical resident.”
Listen to an interview with Patricia Numann, MD
The 1964 effort to recognize Blackwell may have been led by women, but Numann fondly remembers one man who was a great supporter: Upstate president Carlyle Jacobsen, PhD, who surprised attendees at the portrait unveiling with the announcement of a new street to be named for Elizabeth Blackwell.

1964: Letter confirming that a new street would be built and named Elizabeth Blackwell St.
Blackwell continues to be honored each February with a lecture organized by Upstate medical students. This year‘s speaker was Yvonne Maddox PhD, deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.

Yvonne Maddox PhD
Do you have a memory of the building of Upstate University Hospital‘s downtown and community campuses? Please contact the hospital anniversary committee through Susan Keeter, [email protected], 315-464-4834.
Listen to an interview with Patricia Numann, MD on HealthLink on Air