Collection: Catharine Macfarlane typescript autobiography

Scope and Contents

Unbound original typescript autobiography, [ca. 1957], with occasional manuscript emendations by Catharine Macfarlane. Autobiography discusses Macfarlane’s education and appointments at Woman’s Medical College of Philadelphia, conditions at Woman’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and her work on treatment of uterine cancer and cancer prevention.

Dates

circa 1957

Creator

Macfarlane, Catharine (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Catharine Macfarlane, Philadelphia gynecologist and cancer researcher, was born at Chestnut Hill on 7 Apr. 1877. She received her M.D. from Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1898. Macfarlane died on 27 May 1969. Macfarlane served an internship, 18981899, at Woman’s Hospital of Philadelphia, then became Instructor in Obstetrics at Woman’s Medical College and opened a private practice in Germantown; she was the first woman to perform surgery at Germantown Hospital. From 1908 to 1928, she served as Gynecologist at Woman’s Hospital. From 1922 to 1942, she was Professor of Gynecology at Woman’s Medical College. She was also Gynecologist and Obstetrician at Philadelphia General Hospital, 19221942. From 1943 to 1953, Macfarlane served as president of the Philadelphia Division of the American Cancer Society and was also chairman of the Philadelphia County Medical Society’s Cancer Control Committee. In 1932, she became the first woman elected to fellowship in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.