Rutherford, Frances Armstrong (1842–1922)

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Rutherford, Frances Armstrong (1842–1922)

American physician. Born Oct 8, 1842, in Bath, NY; died May 24, 1922; attended Elmira College in NY, 1855–56; studied medicine with Dr. Rachel Gleason in Elmira (from 1863); graduate of Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (later Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University School of Medicine), 1868; briefly married to a lawyer.

Interned with Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell at New York Infirmary for Women and Children; had further training at New York Woman's Hospital (1873) and at London and Berlin clinics and hospitals (1882–83); established a Grand Rapids, Michigan, practice (1868); appointed the 1st female city physician in America; was the 1st elected woman member of the Michigan State Medical Society (1872) and served as its vice president; established and organized the 1st training school for nurses in Grand Rapids, at Union Benevolent Association Hospital, later Blodgett Memorial Hospital.

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