The Changing Face of Medicine: Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte

The National Library of Medicine has organized an exhibition honoring the lives and accomplishments of women doctors who are making a difference in the world of medicine. The exhibition, "Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women Physicians" is on display at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Tribal Connections will devote a space each month to featuring accomplished Native American women doctors from this exhibit.

Dr. Susan La Flesche received her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1889, graduating at the top of her class. She spent her internship at the Woman's Hospital in Philadelphia. From August of 1889 to October of 1893, she served on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska as physician to her tribe, finally resigning for health reasons.

During this time, she worked for the government's Office of Indian Affairs. From 1891 to 1893 she also served as "medical missionary" for her tribe, so designated by the Women's National Indian Association. This dual workload included travel across the length and breadth of the Omaha Reservation, making house calls in addition to receiving patients in her office. La Flesche married in the summer of 1894 and added her husband's last name, Picotte, to her own.

Throughout the remainder of her life, Picotte worked for improved health conditions of the Omaha tribe. This is born out by her extensive correspondence with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs throughout her career, as well as local newspaper accounts of her community achievements in Walthill, Nebraska. Picotte died on September 18, 1915.

Photographic reproduction: From the Nebraska State Historical Society Photograph Collections

To view the entire profile of Dr. Flesche Picotte, please visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_253.html