In honour of #InternationalWomensDay I'm going to tell the story of a powerhouse woman in medicine, who is little known in Canada, despite having been born here. 
Dr. Sophia Jones was born in Chatham, ON in 1857. By many accounts her parents were abolitionists who moved to Canada to escape the racism of the US and continue their activist work. Her father was the first black graduate of @oberlincollege.
Sophia was brilliant, passionate, hard-working and determined to build a career in medicine. Unfortunately, the deep-rooted misogyny of 19th century Canadian academia barred all women from medical school.
Her blackness was a barrier as well. Canadian medical schools of the 19th and 20th centuries have a shameful history of excluding and expelling black students. Other racialized minorities - most notably Jews - were subject to strict admission quotas.
healthsci.queensu.ca/blog/1918-ban-…
healthsci.queensu.ca/blog/1918-ban-…
Sophia did what many women and racialized minorities in 19th century Canada did: they went to the US, where some medical schools had liberalized their admission policies.
This was a brain drain rooted in the white and male supremacist traditions of Canadian academia.
This was a brain drain rooted in the white and male supremacist traditions of Canadian academia.
Sophia became the first black female graduate of the @UMich medical school in 1885. A remarkable achievement in and of itself, but she was only getting started.
Sophia was interested in the professionalization of traditional health care careers. She focused on nursing, a role with a long history, but little in the way of educational and professional standards at that point.
As the first black faculty member at @SpelmanCollege, she established its nursing college.
spelman.edu/about-us/news-…
spelman.edu/about-us/news-…
Sophia also made significant contributions to the emerging field of public health, in particular focusing on the health of the African American community.
In 1913, she penned an article called "50 Years of Negro Public Health", a retrospective on her and others' work.
In 1913, she penned an article called "50 Years of Negro Public Health", a retrospective on her and others' work.
This quote from her article touches on themes in racial equity and the value of education that are still urgently relevant today, more than 100 yrs later.
So, #medtwitter, when reflecting on #InternationalWomensDay today, remember Dr. Jones, a brilliant physician, academic and public health pioneer who because of sexist and racist policies in Canadian medicine was forced to make her mark abroad.
Here's to all the pioneering #WomenInMedicine - and particularly those in BIPOC communities who live with the multi-generational effects of historic inequity and face them with fierce determination to shine no matter what. ✊🔥
