Maude Abbott
Born
Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott

(1868-03-18)March 18, 1868
St. Andrews East, Quebec, Canada
DiedSeptember 2, 1940(1940-09-02) (aged 72)
Montreal, Quebec
Alma materBishop's University Faculty of Medicine (now McGill University)
OccupationPhysician
Known forExpert on congenital heart disease

Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott (March 18, 1868[Note 1] – September 2, 1940) was a Canadian physician, among Canada's earliest female medical graduates, and an internationally known expert on congenital heart disease.[1] She was one of the first women to obtain a BA from McGill University.[2][3]

Early life and education

Maude Elizabeth Seymour Babin was born in St. Andrews East, on 18 March 1868.[4] Both of her parents were absent during infancy,[5] as her mother had died of tuberculosis when Abbott was 7 months old and her father had abandoned her and her older sister, Alice.[2][4][3] The two sisters were legally adopted and raised by their maternal grandmother, Mrs. William Abbott, who was then 62.[5][6] She was a cousin of John Abbott, Canada's third Prime Minister.[7]

Abbott was home schooled until she was 15 years old. In 1885, she graduated from a private Montreal seminary high school.[6][7]

Abbott was admitted to McGill University's Faculty of Arts, with a scholarship, even though she had previously been rejected,[7][8] and received her BA in 1890, graduating as class valedictorian and receiving the Lord Stanley Gold Medal.[3] She subsequently applied to study medicine at McGill University. Admission was refused despite petitioning the faculty first privately and then publicly as the medical school administration was adamant in their refusal to accept a woman. She was then accepted into medical school at Bishop's University and while there, was able to undertake clinical training at the Montreal General Hospital alongside medical students from McGill.[4] In 1894, she received her M.D., C.M. with honours, and the only woman in her class. She received the Chancellor's Prize, and Senior Anatomy Prize for having the best final examination.[9]

Career

Later in 1894, she opened her own practice in Montreal, worked with the Royal Victoria hospital, and was nominated and elected as the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society's first female member.[6] Some time afterwards, she did her post-graduate medical studies in Vienna.[7][10]

In 1897, she opened an independent clinic dedicated to treating women and children. There, she did much first-hand research in pathology.[5] Much of Abbott's work concerned the nature of heart disease, especially in newborn babies.[7] This would cause her to be recognized as a world authority on heart defects.[10]

In 1898, she was appointed Assistant Curator at the McGill Pathological Museum, becoming curator 1901.[11]

In 1905,[6] she was invited to write the chapter on "Congenital Heart Disease" for William Osler's System of Modern Medicine.[7] He declared it "the best thing he had ever read on the subject."[11] The article would place her as the world authority in the field of congenital heart disease.[6]

In 1906, she co-founded the International Association of Medical Museums, with Osler.[2] She became its international secretary in 1907. She would edit the institutions articles for thirty-one years (1907-1938).[11]

In 1910, Abbott was awarded an honorary medical degree from McGill and was made a lecturer in Pathology; this was eight years prior to the university admitting female students to the Faculty of Medicine.[7] After a much conflict with Dr. Horst Oërtel, she left McGill to take up a position at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1923.[12] In 1925, Abbott returned to McGill becoming an Assistant Professor.[4]

In 1924, she was a founder of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada, a Canadian organization committed to the professional, social and personal advancement of women physicians.[2]

In 1936, she wrote the Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease.[2] The work illustrated a new classification system and described records of over a thousand cases of clinical and postmortem records.[6] The same year she retired from her professorial position.

Abbott was a prolific writer, composing over 140 papers and books.[Note 2] She also gave countless lectures.

Death and legacy

On 2 September 1940, Abbott died from a brain hemorrhage, in Montreal.[7]

In 1943, Diego Rivera painted her in his mural for the National Institute of Cardiology of Mexico City. She was the only Canadian, and the only woman depicted in the work.[6]

In 1958, the International Academy of Pathology established the "Maude Abbott Lecture".[6]

In 1993, she was named a "Historic Person" by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada[3] and a plaque was erected outside the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building at McGill University in Montreal.[13]

In 1994, she was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.[14] In 2000, a bronze plaque was erected in her honour on the McIntyre Medical Building. In the same year, Canada Post issued a forty-six cent postage stamp entitled The Heart of the Matter in her honour.[9]

McGill University Health Centre has also recognized Abbott by naming their congenital heart defect clinic the “Maude Clinic”. The clinic has carried her name proudly for many years - originally at the Royal Victoria Hospital site and now continuing at the new M.U.H.C. Glen site.

Awards and honours

  • Chancellor's Prize, 1894.
  • Senior Anatomy Prize, 1894.
  • Lord Stanley Gold Medal, 1890.[7]
  • McGill class valedictorian, 1890.[6]

Selected works

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sources disagree on the date of Abbott's birth. The Canadian Encyclopedia, Maude Abbott Medical Museum, and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography are among the sources that support a birthdate of 18 March 1868. However, articles in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and CHEST Journal all give a birth date of 1869, as do her death certificate and gravestone.
  2. ↑ Laurtenian Heritage WebMagazine cites it as over 100, while Library and Archives Canada Archived 2019-11-26 at the Wayback Machine suggests over 140.

References

  1. ↑ "Dr. Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott". The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2005.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Maude Abbott". Maude Abbott Memorial Museum. McGill University. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Maude Abbott (1869-1940)". Canada's Early Women Writers. May 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hurst JW, Dobell AR (September 1988). "Maude Abbott". Clinical Cardiology. 11 (9): 658–659. doi:10.1002/clc.4960110913. PMID 3067921. S2CID 29223038.
  5. 1 2 3 "Maude Abbott". Canadian Heroes. February 18, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Maude Abbott". Collections Canada. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on November 26, 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Dr. Maude Abbott (1869-1940), Pioneer Woman Doctor". Laurentian Heritage Magazine. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  8. ↑ Uglow J (2005). The Palgrave Macmillan dictionary of women's biography. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781403934482.
  9. 1 2 Rosenhek, Jackie (August 2008). "The Queen of Canadian cardiology". Doctor's Review. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Dr. Maude Abbott". Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Canada Medical Association. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Gillett, Margaret (March 24, 2008). "Maude Abbott". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online ed.). Historica Canada. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  12. ↑ "History". Maude Abbott Medical Museum. McGill University. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  13. ↑ Abbott, Maude Elizabeth Seymour National Historic Person. Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada.
  14. ↑ "Maude Abbott". MAUDE Unit. 2007. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2012.

Further reading

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