Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott, MD — internal medicine (cardiology), diagnostic and therapeutic services (pathology)
Courtesy National Library of Medicine, Images from the History of Medicine, B01504
In 1889, Dr. Maude Abbott’s (1869–1940) application to study medicine at her undergraduate alma mater, McGill University, was rejected because school policy barred women until 1917. Instead, she earned her doctor of medicine degree from Bishop’s Medical College of Montreal, Canada, and later earned worldwide recognition for her research on heart disease. The heart disease classification system she developed became the standard reference guide and was useful in the development of many innovations in cardiology, such as the operation to cure “blue baby syndrome,” developed by Helen Taussig, MD, Alfred Blalock, MD, and surgical technician Vivien Thomas.
Read more about Dr. Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott.
For more information about heart disease, visit MedlinePlus.
