Megumi Yamaguchi Shinoda (February 9, 1908 – May 1, 2007) was a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

physician and was the first

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

woman to graduate from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Alongside

Kazue Togasaki Kazue Togasaki (June 29, 1897 – December 15, 1992) was one of the earliest women with Japanese ancestry to earn a medical degree in the United States. Biography Kazue Togasaki was born on June 29, 1897 in San Francisco, California to Japanese i ...

, Shinoda was one of the first women of Japanese ancestry in the United States to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1933. Additionally, she was the first Japanese American intern at what is now

Los Angeles General Medical Center Los Angeles General Medical Center (also known as LA General and formerly known as Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, County/USC, or by the abbreviation LAC+USC) is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located at 2051 Marengo Street in the Boyl ...

Personal life

In 1908, Shinoda was born as Megumi Yamaguchi to Dr. Minosuke Yamaguchi and Yuki Sasaki Yamaguchi in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. She had 6 siblings. One of her older sisters was

Fumiko Yamaguchi Fumiko Yamaguchi Amano (25 May 1903 – 8 January 1987) was a Japanese-born physician and advocate for reproductive health. She and her husband were both educated in the United States, and founded the Japan Birth Control Institute in Tokyo after ...

. After her father finished medical school in 1918, her family moved to Inwood. Around 1935, Shinoda married Joseph Shinoda. On June 29, 1936, Shinoda gave birth to their daughter,

Jean Shinoda Bolen Jean Shinoda Bolen is an American psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and author. She is of Japanese descent. A Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, she is ...

. Her niece was Grace Aiko Nakamura.''Shinoda Nakamura Interview.'' January 25, 2012.Densho ID: denshovh-ngrace-01. https://ddr.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-1003/ddr-densho-1003-8-transcript-20f2fcd04c.htm

Education

Shinoda graduated from Barnard College in 1928 with Phi Beta Kappa honors.Barnard Alumnae. Vol. 60. No. 1. Barnard College. Barnard College. September 1970. https://archive.org/details/barnardalumnae601barn Her sister Aiko Yamaguchi Takaoka graduated from Barnard in 1925. Shinoda started attended Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in Fall of 1929. She graduated in 1933 with Alpha Omega Alpha honors and became the first Asian-American woman to graduate from Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Shinoda's residency was at, what is now called,

and was the first Japanese-American intern at that hospital.

Career

After her residency, she started a general practice in Los Angeles focusing on obstetrics and gynaecology. Between 1939 and 1941, Shinoda also authored a medical column in the newspaper '' Rafu Shimpo''. During an interview with ''Densho'', her niece claimed that Shinoda's column was the first medical column in the newspaper. Due to

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...

, Shinoda was forced to close her business and moved back to New York City. After World War II, Shinoda is reported to have returned to Los Angeles and restarted a medical practice at 224 1/2 East 1st Street in Los Angeles. Around this time, she established a new medical practice in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

focusing on psychiatry. In February 1958, Shinoda was named as one of the claimants that, in accordance with the

Japanese-American Claims Act The Japanese-American Claims Act is a law passed by the United States Congress and signed by President Harry S. Truman on July 2, 1948. The law authorized the settlement of property loss claims by people of Japanese descent who were removed from ...

, the Japanese Claims Section of the Department of Justice had awarded monetary compensation for property loss. She retired in 1980. In a 1986 political advertisement published in the Pacific Citizen, Shinoda was listed as a supporter of the Nixon-Agnew U.S. presidential ticket.

Death

Shinoda died on May 1, 2007, in her Los Angeles home at age 99.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shinoda, Megumi Yamaguchi Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni 1908 births 2007 deaths American people of Japanese descent American physicians of Japanese descent Physicians from Cleveland 20th-century American women physicians 20th-century American physicians American women psychiatrists American psychiatrists Barnard College alumni 20th-century Japanese women physicians