JABSOM Library: Library Updates

Women's History Month

Women's History Month is a time to celebrate women's incredible contributions throughout history, including the field of medicine. From ancient healers to modern-day researchers, women have made an indelible mark on healthcare worldwide.

Let's take a look at some of Hawaii's women in medicine.

The first Native Hawaiian woman MD is Roberta Apau Ikemoto, who specializes in radiology. She is a graduate of Kamehameha and the University of California School at San Francisco medical school. (1)

Graduate of Kalani High School, Creighton University, and Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Marjorie Mau, MD, MS, became the first woman in Hawaii to be recognized as a "Master physician" by the American College of Physicians. In addition to treating patients on Molokaʻi and in Honolulu, Dr. Mau is a prolific scientist who has conducted groundbreaking research in metabolic disorders among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. (2)

Dr. Chien-Wen Tseng is a local family physician who has been treating patients for 20 years and teaching at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at UH since 2002. She is the first local physician to help set national recommendations for regular screenings and tests with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (3)

In addition to these remarkable women, JABSOM has also been affiliated with several Native Hawaiian women authors who have made significant contributions to the field of medicine.

Dr. Naleen Andrade, MD, was the first Native Hawaiian woman to become a psychiatrist and the first to lead a department of Psychiatry at a U.S. medical school. Currently the Executive Vice President of Native Hawaiian Health and Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (DEIJ) Officer at The Queen’s Health System (QHS), she works in collaboration with other healthcare and community-based organizations to improve the health and well-being of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawaii. (4)

Mele Look has devoted the majority of her life to addressing Native Hawaiian health disparities. She has collaborated with Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities to design, carry out, and assess health intervention and education initiatives that all involve seniors. She founded and facilitated the Ulu Network, a community health coalition while serving as the director of community engagement for the Department of Native Hawaiian Health and the Center for Native and Pacific Health Research. The Ulu Network now has 80+ sites across Hawai'i, including all 19 federally qualified health clinics (FQHC) and all 5 federally established Native Hawaiian Healthcare Systems. (5)

At our library, we are thrilled to celebrate Women's History Month and honor the achievements of women in medicine. We encourage everyone to take this opportunity to learn more about the amazing women who have paved the way in healthcare and continue to inspire us today.

Want to read stories about some amazing women? Check out some of these books in our collection!

The Changing Face of Medicine by Ann K. Boulis; Jerry A. Jacobs

Call Number: Available online via ProQuest Ebook Central

ISBN: 9780801444463

Publication Date: 2008-11-15

The number of women practicing medicine in the United States has grown steadily since the late 1960s, with women now roughly at parity with men among entering medical students. Why did so many women enter American medicine? How are women faring, professionally and personally, once they become physicians? Are women transforming the way medicine is practiced? To answer these questions, The Changing Face of Medicine draws on a wide array of sources, including interviews with women physicians and surveys of medical students and practitioners. The analysis is set in the twin contexts of a rapidly evolving medical system and profound shifts in gender roles in American society. Throughout the book, Ann K. Boulis and Jerry A. Jacobs critically examine common assumptions about women in medicine. For example, they find that women's entry into medicine has less to do with the decline in status of the profession and more to do with changes in women's roles in contemporary society. Women physicians' families are becoming more and more like those of other working women. Still, disparities in terms of specialty, practice ownership, academic rank, and leadership roles endure, and barriers to opportunity persist. Along the way, Boulis and Jacobs address a host of issues, among them dual-physician marriages, specialty choice, time spent with patients, altruism versus materialism, and how physicians combine work and family. Women's presence in American medicine will continue to grow beyond the 50 percent mark, but the authors question whether this change by itself will make American medicine more caring and more patient-centered. The future direction of the profession will depend on whether women doctors will lead the effort to chart a new course for healthcare delivery in the United States.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Call Number: Main WO 690 S628i 2011

ISBN: 9781400052189

Publication Date: 2011-03-08

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. --From publisher description.

The Medical Millennium by H. Lee (Editor)

Call Number: Main WZ 112 L4772m 2000

ISBN: 9781850704669

Publication Date: 2000-01-15

"This is an extensively illustrated review of 1000 notable men and women who have contributed most to our current knowledge of medicine and surgery over the past 1000 years. Its publication celebrates what has truly been the medical millennium - an unprecedented triumph of human endeavor as succeeding generations of pioneers have built on the work of earlier doctors and scientists to provide yet further insights and advances during an era of progress stretching from folklore to high science." "Examples: Peter of Abano (1250-1316), Italian polymath who attempted to reconcile Greek, Arab, and Jewish medical practice in his Conciliator. He studied and classified poisons and was subjected to the Inquisition. Haly Abbas (d 994), Arab physician who described goiter, malignant anthrax, smallpox, gave contraceptive advice and wrote Almaleki. John Jacob Abel (1857-1938), American hematologist and biochemist, who was the first to use an artificial membrane in pioneering work on renal dialysis, developed plasmapheresis, extracted epinephrine, and crystallized insulin." "Audience: Physicians and surgeons in all fields of medicine; residents; medical students; medical historians; medical bookstores; medical libraries."--Jacket.

People and Cultures of Hawaii by John F. McDermott; Naleen Naupaka Andrade

Call Number: Main BF 698.9.C8 P419 2011

ISBN: 9780824835804

Publication Date: 2011-04-30

This is a significant update to the highly influential text People and Cultures of Hawaii: A Psychocultural Profile. Since its publication in 1980, the immigrant groups it discusses in depth have matured, and new ones have been added to the mix. The present work tracks the course of these changes over the past twenty years, constructing a historical understanding of each group as it evolved from race to ethnicity to culture.
Individual chapters begin with an overview of one of the fifteen groups. Following the development of its unique ethnocultural identity, distinctive character traits such as temperament and emotional expression are explored―as well as ethnic stereotypes. Also discussed are modifications to the group’s ethnocultural identity over time and generational change―which traits may have changed over generations and which are more hardwired or enduring. An important feature of each chapter is the focus on the group’s family social structure, generational and gender roles, power distribution, and central values and life goals. Readers will also find a description of the group’s own internal social class structure, social and political strategies, and occupational and educational patterns. Finally, contributors consider how a particular ethnic group has blended into Hawai‘i’s culturally sensitive society.
People and Cultures of Hawai‘i: The Evolution of Culture and Ethnicity will, like its predecessor, fill an important niche in understanding the history of different ethnic groups in Hawai‘i.

The Woman Rebel by Peter Bagge

Call Number: Graphic Medicine HQ 764.S3 B144w 2016

ISBN: 9781770461260

Publication Date: 2013-10-15

There are few figures in the history of medicine who loom as large as Margaret Sanger. At a time when it was illegal to explain human reproduction publicly, she wrote pamphlets so accurate that the Postmaster General refused to mail them. Bagge doesn't avoid the more contrary parts of Sanger's life such as her anti-abortion sentiments, marital infidelity, and addiction. She once accepted an invitation to speak about contraception to the Women's Auxiliary of the Klu Klux Klan because she believed that even racists deserved to know and understand their own bodies. Regardless of what you think you know about her, there is more to that story.

 

Resources:

(1) https://kamehamehapublishing.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2020/09/Hulili_Vol10_3.pdf

(2) https://jabsom.hawaii.edu/dr-marjorie-mau-to-receive-rank-of-mastership-by-american-college-of-physicians/

(3) https://www.honolulumagazine.com/this-hawaii-doctor-is-helping-to-change-the-rules-for-your-medical-care/

(4) https://www.nativehawaiianchamberofcommerce.org/2022/11/01/nh-oha-hakuone-copy-copy/

(5) https://jabsom.hawaii.edu/the-department-of-native-hawaiian-healths-mele-look-to-retire-at-the-end-of-december/