Ruth Webster Lathrop (May 23, 1862 – July 31, 1940) was an American physician and medical school professor, who taught physiology at the

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) was founded in 1850, and was the second medical institution in the world established to train women in medicine to earn the M.D. degree. The New England Female Medical College had been establishe ...

Early life

Lathrop was from Le Roy, New York, the daughter of Francis Cuming Lathrop and Fannie Aurelia Comstock Lathrop. She attended

Ingham University Ingham University in Le Roy, New York, was the first women's college in New York State and the first chartered women's university in the United States. It was founded in 1835 as the Attica (NY) Female Seminary by Mariette and Emily E. Ingham, who ...

in her hometown, and graduated from Wellesley College in 1883. She earned a medical degree at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891.

Career

Lathrop taught physiology and anatomy courses at the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia. She was one of several faculty who resigned in protest in 1923, when colleague

Alice Weld Tallant Alice Weld Tallant (July 14, 1875 – May 31, 1958) was an American physician and medical school professor. When her employment as a professor of obstetrics was terminated at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, it sparked the "Tallant A ...

's appointment was not renewed. She later taught at

Temple University School of Medicine The Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), located on the Health Science Campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, is one of 7 schools of medicine in Pennsylvania conferring the M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree. It also ...

. She retired in 1937. Lathrop was one of the vice-presidents of the American Academy of Medicine, an affiliated society of 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 sta ...

, focused on "sociological problems in the field of medicine". She and her mother were charter members of the Independence Hall chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also active in the Philadelphia Wellesley Club, and the

Association of Collegiate Alumnae The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

Personal life

Lathrop lived in Philadelphia with a fellow physician, Annie Bartram Hall. She died at their home in 1940, aged 78 years, from heat exhaustion. At her request, her remains were dressed in

academic regalia Academic dress is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, mainly tertiary (and sometimes secondary) education, worn mainly by those who have obtained a university degree (or similar), or hold a status that entitles them to assum ...

for

cremation Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre is ...

References

External links

* Ruth Webster Lathrop
"Women Physicians as Teachers"
''The Woman's Medical Journal'' 18(April 1908): 70. A paper read before the Woman's Medical Society of the State of New York, March 1908. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lathrop, Ruth Webster 1862 births 1940 deaths People from Le Roy, New York Wellesley College alumni Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania faculty American women physicians Temple University faculty American women academics