Louisa Atkins

Thesis: Ueber Gangraena Pulmonum bei Kindern. Thesis (Dr. med.)–Universität Zürich, 1872. PDF

Louisa Atkins Thesis Cover

Louisa Atkins was one of the “Zurich 7”, the first group of women to be admitted to the medical school in Zurich and granted degrees.

Originally from London, she was better educated than most English women and realized that she would not be able to get a medical degree in her home country. She matriculated at the University of Zurich in 1867 and received her degree in 1872.

Atkins was appointed to Birmingham and Midlands Hospital for Women in 1872. She was then officially admitted to medical practice in 1877 along with co-student Eliza Walker and appointed as a resident to the Women’s Hospital of Queen’s and General Hospitals.

Sources:

Bonner, Thomas Neville. “Rendezvous in Zurich : seven who made a revolution in women’s medical education, 1864-1874.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 44 (1989): 7-27.

Arnott, Robert. A Short History of the University of Birmingham Medical School, 1825-2001. http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/mds/centres/histmed/resources/history.aspx . Accessed 10 September 2012.

Hall, Leslie. Women enter the British medical profession. http://www.lesleyahall.net/medprof.htm. Accessed 1 November 2006.

Biographies of selected authors from the New York Academy of Medicine Collection of International Medical Theses written by Kristin W. Andrews, B.A., M.S.L.S.

Last modified: 01/31/22