Medicine is one of the most fundamental sciences of the world (It’s about keepin’ us alive and healthy, duh?) In this article, I will be introducing to you 5 amazing women who made pivotal discoveries and made spectacular contributions to the medical world. The stage is yours, ladies. ;)
1. Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman doctor in the U.S. When Elizabeth applied to medical schools, she got rejected by all of them, except for one. They accepted her as a joke because the male students thought it’d be funny (UGH.). The joke backfired, because she walked in, worked harder than all of them, and graduated top of her class (Who’s laughing now??).
She didn’t stop there. She opened a hospital for women and children at a time when women weren’t even allowed in most professional spaces, and pushed for cleaner medical practice regulations way before people understood the concept of infection.
Her contributions to medicine were way beyond her time and many didn’t understand her, yet she still succeeded.
2. Rosalind Franklin
Rosalyn Franklin discovered the DNA’s double helix. She was also a master of X-ray crystallography which is basically taking pictures of molecules so tiny they’re invisible (So she’s a scientist and photographer!!). Her famous “Photo 51” captured the structure of DNA so clearly that it became the key to unlocking the double helix shape.
But while others ran to publish and claim the spotlight (Jealousy is timeless I guess :/), she kept work for her goals. She focused on viruses, coal structure, and molecular biology.
Today, scientists openly say that without her precision, her data, and her stubborn accuracy, DNA research would have been decades behind. Thanks Madam Franklin :).
3. Virginia Apgar
She is the woman who made childbirth safer for millions with a brilliant idea.
Previously, doctors didn’t have a proper system to check a newborn’s health. Babies were born, and doctors relied on “experience,” which basically meant guesses (They be like: “The baby looks healthy to me -> APPROVED” :). But Apgar created the Apgar Score, a one-minute test that checks a baby’s breathing, heartbeat, color, movement, and reflexes.
It was simple, fast, and lifesaving. Infant survival rates improved worldwide thanks of her.
And on top of being an anesthesiologist, she played the violin and worked in public health, proving you can be talented in medicine and still have a whole life outside the hospital (Could she be the inventor of work-life balance too??).
4. Tu Youyou
The Nobel Prize–winning researcher who cured malaria.
When malaria was killing millions and modern drugs failed, Tu Youyou used traditional Chinese medicine books’ (aka HUNDREDS of ancient texts), and found references to an old herbal treatment.
She extracted artemisinin, a compound that became the world’s most effective malaria treatment. Her discovery has saved more than 100 million lives.
Here’s the part that makes her story even stronger: she had no PhD, no international degree, and very little recognition in her own country at first. But thanks to her, fates of many changed.
5. Remziye Hisar
Turkey’s first female chemist who is a quiet legend shaping medical science.
Remziye Hisar grew up during a time when women weren’t even allowed to attend university. Instead of accepting that, she packed her bags, went to Paris, and studied chemistry at the Sorbonne (one of the top universities in France).
When she returned to Turkey, she worked on biochemistry, especially enzymes and metabolism. She faced nonstop lack of lab resources, gender inequality etc. But she kept working, publishing, teaching, and building the scientific world that later generations would use as their starting point.
Hisar was the woman who showed Turkey that girls could take up space in labs, lead research, and change medicine forever.
These women didn’t just do science — they changed the rules. They proved that curiosity, determination, and a refusal to be ignored can leave a mark on the world, no matter the obstacles. From Elizabeth Blackwell breaking barriers in medicine, to Remziye Hisar lighting the path for women in Turkish science, their stories remind us that one person’s courage can ripple into history. So next time someone tells you “that’s not for girls,” remember these icons who laughed in the face of “impossible” — and then went out and proved it wrong.
I hope you enjoy this article! Here’s is another article I’ve written.
Bye for now fellow STEMinistas!!