Rose Talbot Bullard (April 16, 1864 – December 22, 1915) was an American physician and medical school professor, who was elected president of the

Los Angeles County Medical Association Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) is a professional organization representing physicians from every medical specialty and practice setting as well as students, interns and residents. The organization was founded in 1871 and is a cons ...

in 1902.

Early life

Rose Talbot (the surname is sometimes seen as "Talbott") was born in

Birmingham, Iowa Birmingham is a city in Van Buren County, Iowa, Van Buren County, Iowa, United States. The population was 367 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Birmingham was laid out in 1839. The town was incorporated on May 20, 1856. Geog ...

in 1864. Her father was a physician. She earned her medical degree at the Women's Hospital Medical College in Chicago, where she graduated at the top of her class in 1886. Her sister Lula Talbot Ellis was also a physician, and the first woman to graduate from the medical school at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 1888.

Career

Bullard moved to California in 1886 and soon was helping with a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic in Los Angeles. She shared a practice with Elizabeth Follansbee. She taught

gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

at the University of Southern California. She was one of the first officers of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

of Los Angeles, when it formed in 1893. She was elected president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association in 1902, the first woman to serve in that post (and the only woman to serve in that post until 1992). She was also a fellow of the

American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...

, one of only eight women elected to that status when the organization was founded in 1912. In her obstetric practice, she was among the first in Southern California to use

spinal anesthesia Spinal anaesthesia (or spinal anesthesia), also called spinal block, subarachnoid block, intradural block and intrathecal block, is a form of neuraxial regional anaesthesia involving the injection of a local anaesthetic or opioid into the subarac ...

. When the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

established a Public Health Education Committee in 1909, Bullard was one of the ten physicians appointed to the committee, and the only one from Los Angeles. In her work with women patients, she advocated outdoor activity, especially bicycling, which she believed came with other benefits for women. "The bicycle has done more for the cause of legitimate

dress reform Victorian dress reform was an objective of the Victorian dress reform movement (also known as the rational dress movement) of the middle and late Victorian era, led by various reformers who proposed, designed, and wore clothing considered more ...

than any other single agent," she declared in 1895. "Men may talk and argue about women physicians, as such," commented a medical journal editorial in 1903, "but no person ever comments unfavorably upon Dr. Bullard, either as a physician or a lady."

Personal life and legacy

Bullard married a fellow physician, ophthalmologist and anesthesiologist Frank Dearborn Bullard, in 1888. They had a daughter, Helen Talbot Bullard, who also became a physician. Bullard died suddenly in 1915, aged 51 years, from complications after a surgery to treat a dental infection. The Women Physicians Action Committee of the Los Angeles County Medical Association gives an annual Rose Talbot Bullard Award for a woman physician who is a "champion and trailblazer"."September is Women in Medicine Month"
''Physicians News Network'' (September 11, 2017).

References

External links

Rose Talbot Bullard's gravesite
at

Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery is a cemetery in Los Angeles at 1831 West Washington Boulevard in the Pico-Union district, southwest of Downtown. It was founded as Rosedale Cemetery in 1884, when Los Angeles had a population of approximately 28,000, o ...

in Los Angeles, on Find a Grave. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullard, Rose Talbot 1864 births 1915 deaths American gynecologists Physicians from Iowa Women gynaecologists