Women of Mayo Clinic: The Founding Generation

The story of Mayo Clinic begins on the Minnesota prairie following a devastating tornado in 1883. It also begins with the women who joined the growing practice as physicians, as laboratory researchers, as developers of radium therapy and cancer treatments, and as innovators in virtually all aspects of patient care, education, and research. In tracing the perspectives of more than forty of these talented, dedicated pioneers, Women of Mayo Clinic introduces a welcome new perspective on the history of both Mayo Clinic and Women in medicine. While these women contributed to the clinic's origins and success, their roles have not been widely celebrated-until now. A member of the writing faculty at the University of Minnesota Rochester, Virginia M. Wright-Peterson has written for Minnesota Public Radio, the Rochester Post-Bulletin, and the Twin Cities Daily Planet. She has worked at Mayo Clinic for nearly two decades.