Emma K. Willits (20 September 1869 – 9 April 1965) was a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

who played an important role in the development of Children's Hospital in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

(now the California campus omen and Children's Centerof the

California Pacific Medical Center Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) is a general medical/surgical and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California. It was created by a merger of some of the city's longest established hospitals and currently operates three ac ...

), serving as the head of the Department of General Surgery from 1921 to 1934. She is believed to be the third woman to specialize in surgery in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and the first to head a surgery department.

Biography

Willits was born in

Macedon, New York Macedon is a town in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 9,148 at the 2010 census. The Town of Macedon is named after the birthplace of Alexander the Great, in Ancient Macedonia. It is located in the southwest corner of Wa ...

and was educated at

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

schools. In 1892 she moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to enroll in the Women's Medical College of Chicago, then affiliated with (and later absorbed by)

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. After receiving her medical degree in 1896, she served her internship at the Women's Hospital of Chicago. In 1897, Willits moved to

as a resident at the Children's Hospital (for Women and Children). When she completed her residency in 1900, she opened her own private practice but maintained her affiliation with Children's. She was initially a member of the surgical staff of the Department of Pediatrics, and later became chief of the Department of Surgical Diseases of Children. In 1921 she became the chair of the Department of General Surgery, a position she held until 1934 when she stepped down but continued to serve as a consulting physician and surgeon. She is believed to be the first woman in the United States to head a surgery department. Over the course of her career, she visited the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

several times and spent several months studying in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1923. She also maintained a private practice as a family doctor, retiring in 1941. Willits' house in Palo Alto, constructed in 1926–27, was designed by architect Lionel H. Pries. Willits was lesbian and throughout her adult life lived with her partner, Elizabeth Ristine. She lived quietly in San Francisco until her death at age 95.

Biography

References

Further reading