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Dorothea Dix
When Dorothea was thirty-nine years old she discovered horrifying conditions at the East Cambridge Jail. From that time on she made it her mission to see to it that the mentally ill could live in better conditions. She continued to work all over Europe to improve conditions for the mentally ill as she had done in America. -
Mary Ann Bickerdyke
After her daughter died as an infant she became determined to learn more about health. After becoming aware of the poor medical conditions of the Union soldiers she resolved to help the situation. She gathered medical supplies to carry to them and after seeing their poor conditions she refused to leave. She did everything she could to improve these conditions and after working with the soldiers for many years she was hired by the US Sanitary Commission. -
Clara Barton
After the First Battle of Bull Run, Clara organized a way of obtaining and distributing supplies to wounded soldiers. She became known world wide when she founded the American Red Cross. She was the first president of the organization and due to her leadership the American Red Cross became the first disaster relief organization in the world. -
Linda Richards
In 1878, she began to work at the Boston College Hospital and established a nurse training school. She also established the first nurse training school in Japan. She continued to establish training schools in Philidelphia, Massachusetts, and Michigan. -
Mary Eliza Mahoney
She was the first African-American registered nurse. She worked primarily as a private nurse. In 1936, the NACGN created an award in honor of Mahoney for women who contributed to racial integration in nursing -
Isabel Hampton Robb
She became the first Superintendent of Nurses and Principal of the Training School at John Hopkins Hospital in 1889. In 1893 she published a nursing textbook called Nursing: It's Principles and Practices. She helped to found the American Journal of Nurses. -
Mary Adelaide Nutting
She helped found the American Journal of Nursing in 1900. In 1907 she became thefull-time professor of institutional management at Teachers College. In 1910 she became head of the new department of nursing and health. She was the first nurse to hold either position. -
Lavinia Dock
After serving as a nurse among the poor she compiled the first manual of drugs for nurses, Materia Medica for Nurses. One of her goals was to improve the health of the poor and the profession of nursing. She contributed to the American Journal of Nursing and did most of the work for A History of Nursing. -
Lillian Wald
Founder of the Henry Street Settlement and Visiting Nurse Service. She worked throughout her life to fight for the rights of the sick, poor, and homeless. -
Annie Goodrich
Annie Goodrich received her RN degree in 1892. She received many honorary degrees in her lifetime including a Master of Arts, Doctor of Science, and Doctor of Laws. Her devotion to the field led to the professionalization of nursing training to America. -
Margaret Sanger
She was known for promoting birth control and advocating for women's rights. In 1916 she set up the first birth control clinic in the United States. -
Virgina Henderson
She was the first full time instructor in Virginia. She authored one of the most widely used definitions of nursing. She pushed for the inclusion of psychiatric nursing in educational programs in Virginia. -
Mary Breckinridge
She started the Frontier Nursing Service to provide professional healthcare in the Appalacian Mountains. That service started the American Association of Nurse-Midwives,which led to the American College of Nurse-Midwives, in 1929 and the first American school of midwifery in New York in 1932. -
Ida V. Moffett
Worked as nurse for 70 years. She trained in orthopedic nursing at the University of Iowa and then studied surgical nursing at the University of Cincinatti.She became the operating room supervisor for Birmingham Baptist Hospital. She later became the head nurse at the Highland Avenue Baptist Hospital. -
Hildegard Peplau
Known as "The mother of psychiatric nursing". She was the only nurse to serve the ANA as executive director and later as president. During World War II she was a member of the Army Nurse Corps and worked in a neuropsychiatric hospital in London. -
Martha Rogers
She is best known for developing the Science of Unitary Human Beings and writing An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. She specialized in public health nursing serving several different states. -
Lillian Holland Harvey
She started the first baccalaureate of nursing program in the state of Alabama in 1948. She was the Director of Nursing Service at John A. Andrew Hospital from 1944 to 1948, and Dean of the school of Nursing, Tuskegee Institute from 1948 until 1973. She has led many organizations and received many honors and awards. In 1992 the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees renamed the Nurses Home in her honor. -
Dorothea Orem
During her nursing career she worked as a staff nurse, private duty nurse, educator, administrator, and nurse consultant. She received an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1976. She released three publications, her first in 1971, second in 1980,and third in 1995. -
Madeleine Leininger
She is the founder of the worldwide Transcultural Nursing movement. She was dean of the University of Washington School of Nursing in 1969. She has writtin 27 books. -
Jean Watson
She is a Distinguished Professor of Nursing at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She is the founder of the original Center for Human Caring in Colorado. She holds many offices and chairs and has received many honors and awards.
