Annie E. Rice (1852–1884) was an American physician, and, with Jeannette Judson Sumner, was one of the first two women to attend

Georgetown University Medical School Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's ...

, 89 years before Georgetown formally admitted women.

Early life and education

She was born in Hallowell, Maine to Almira W. Sampson Rice and Elisha Esty Rice. She was born into a prominent family, as her father was a colonel, the first US presidential consul to Japan, and the inventor of railway brakes and other innovations discussed at length in ''Scientific American.'' Rice and "Nettie" Sumner enrolled in Georgetown's medical program, and they began their coursework in the autumn of 1880. In 1881, they both transferred to the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP), graduating with medical degrees in 1883. Rice's thesis at WMCP was on "Elytrorrhaphy as performed by Le Fort." Joseph Taber Johnson MD, of the obstetrics faculty of Georgetown University Medical Center, published an editorial in the ''Maryland Medical Journal'' endorsing her new application of Le Fort's procedure, and recommending her thesis for publication.

Work with Alexander Graham Bell

The year before the two women began their medical studies at Georgetown University, Sumner wrote to

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

discussing in detail how she and Rice both volunteered in Bell's laboratory on 1325 L Street NW. They heard a song and listened to his voice on the telephone that he had patented four years earlier. It is clear from the context of the letter that Bell requested it of Sumner. That same season the women also worked on Fayette Street in Georgetown (now 35th Street) at Bell's

Volta Bureau The Volta Laboratory (also known as the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory, the Bell Carriage House and the Bell Laboratory) and the Volta Bureau were created in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. by Alexander Graham Bell.(19/20th-century scientist and ...

office, alongside an inventor and engineer named Sumner Tainter, who was a close collaborator of Bell's.

Work as a physician and early death

After graduating from medical school in Pennsylvania, Rice and Sumner returned to Washington, D.C., in June 1883. Together they opened the city's first free clinic for women, and called it the Woman's Dispensary. Their type of patient-centered care set a new standard for women's health, and they were also able to offer clinical experience for other woman doctors who were graduating. Clinics were strictly segregated in those years, so they opened one at 937 New York Avenue to care for women of color. Rice died in 1884 at age 31, and cause was listed in the ''Maryland Medical Journal'' as heart disease. She died three years before Sumner recruited

Ida Heiberger Ida Johanna Heiberger (February 4, 1858 – June 16, 1938) was an American physician and one of the first women licensed to practice medicine in Washington, D.C. Early life and education Helberger was born on February 4, 1858, in Washington ...

in 1887. When Rice served the only doctors were women, but Sumner eventually extended the practice to include male students and residents, and eventually leading to conflict with Heiberger, a change that Rice did not live to see.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Annie Elmira 1852 births 1884 deaths 19th-century American physicians 19th-century American women physicians Georgetown University alumni Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni People from Hallowell, Maine Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery