History is Herstory

Since Isabella wants to be a doctor when she grows up, it made sense for me to begin introducing her to famous doctors that changed the world. It just so happens that Marco Giuliani wrote an article 9 Famous Female Doctors that Changed the World.

Day 1 was spent introducing her Dr. Jane C. Wright. After reading a summary of her background and accomplishments from Giuliani's article, Isabella then took three facts and wrote a short summary of what she felt was important and how Wright made an impact in the world. Afterwards, we watched a short video on YouTube about her. Once the video ended, we both spent some time exploring The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) that was created by Dr. Wright.

On Day 2, we were introduced to Dr. Gertrude B. Elion. After reading about her, Isabella prepared a short verbal presentation where she explained who Dr. Elion was and her accomplishments as we sat together for dinner. Since Dr. Elion was motivated to study chemistry by the death of her grandfather, who died of cancer, we discussed how motivation can build success, and Isabella shared reasons why she was interested in becoming a doctor.

Tomorrow will be Day 3 of this topic, and we will be studying Dr. Gerty Cori. I found a slide show presentation that explains her life, the Cori cycle (which won her the Nobel Prize) as well as other amazing accomplishments. I plan to show her a model of the Cori Cycle, and help her understand the importance of this metabolic process.

Day 4 will be focused on Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig and her work in pediatric cardiology. Isabella has visited a cardiologist before and had an EKG, so this is familiar territory for her. She has also watched her brother have an echocardiogram done. I plan on sharing this lovely article written that talks about her work on Blue Baby Syndrome. Afterwards, we'll watch Doctor Ouch's Heart video. Then, for fun, I will have her try to Label the parts of a heart, and then we will find the answers together.

Day 5 of "9 Famous Females Doctors who changed the World," will be Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. I plan on sharing her Five Stages of Grief. We have all dealt with different forms of loss, so I plan on talking through each stage with her, and what they might look like. I found this beautiful website that talks a lot about grief, and provides handouts for children, teens and young adults to work through their feelings: Grief and Loss Worksheets.

Day 6 will be dedicated to Dr. Audrey Evans. This one hurts as my son had a friend who died of neuroblastoma, and that wake will forever hurt my heart. At the same time however, Dr. Evans founded the Ronald McDonald House, and Isabella volunteered there last spring with her girl scout troop for their Bronze Award. She and her troop performed music (violin/piano), song, led art activities, and served dinner to all the families.

After reading about Dr. Evans, we will look at a video Modern Hero about her life and accomplishments.

Day 7 will be Dr. Virginia Apgar. We will then look at an Apgar test and discuss why this is an important tool to use when a baby is born.

Day 8 is for Dr. Ana Aslan I'll be sharing this video with Isabella that explains the importance of her development of Gerovital H3 and what motivated her to study "life." This is similar to the motivation we talked about with Dr. Elion.

On our last day of the 9-day series, we will be looking at Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, her discovery of Nerve Growth Factor and how she founded the European Brain Research Institute in 2002. I was able to find an interview with her from 2008 that I plan on sharing with Isabella. I also found an amazing video Response of Cells to Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) that shows it in action.

Day 10 will be a review, where I will ask her to talk about one of the nine doctors and write a short report on her.

I also plan to talk about other women in history and would like to help her create a diagram 8 Famous Women showing eight famous women in different important and/or historical positions.

I am hoping this series in Women in History will help Isabella learn more about medicine, the important contributions on women in history, and, of course, girl power!