5 Historical Women in Medicine with Connecticut Ties

March is Women's History Month!

Connecticut has a rich history of women who broke barriers in medicine and public health, women who faced exclusion, defied unjust laws, and built institutions that endured long after them. This Women's History Month, we are honoring five of those trailblazers: Joyce Yerwood, Annie Keeler Bailey, Ann Petry, Emily Dunning Barringer, and Hilda Crosby Standish. Each of these women left an indelible mark on their communities and on the broader story of women in medicine.

Joyce Yerwood: First Black Female Doctor in Fairfield County

A Texas native, Dr. Joyce Yerwood pursued her medical education at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the nation's most distinguished historically Black medical institutions, following in her father's footsteps alongside her sister. After relocating to Connecticut, she established a medical practice dedicated to the care of women and children, keeping her maiden name professionally. In 1955, she made history as the first African American woman physician in Fairfield County.

But Dr. Yerwood’s impact extended far beyond the exam room. A tireless civic leader, she championed educational and professional opportunities for African American youth, organized cultural programs, and was instrumental in founding what would become the Stamford Negro Community Center, later renamed the Yerwood Center in her honor. She and her husband also helped found the Greenwich branch of the NAACP, cementing her legacy as both a pioneering physician and an enduring force for community advancement in Connecticut.

Dr. Annie Keeler Bailey: First Trained Woman Doctor in Danbury

One of the first academically trained women physicians in Connecticut, Dr. Annie Keeler Bailey earned her medical degree from the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, founded by the pioneering Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell in 1868, before establishing her Danbury practice in 1886. She specialized in the care of women and children at a time when female physicians were a rarity and often unwelcome in medical institutions.

Dr. Bailey's contributions extended beyond her own practice. She taught at the Danbury Hospital Training School for Nurses for eleven years and in 1892 played a founding role in the formation of the Danbury Graduate Nurses' Association, helping to professionalize and support nursing in the region. Her career stands as a testament to the determination required of women who chose medicine in the late nineteenth century.

Ann Petry: First Black Woman to Graduate from CT College of Pharmacy

A third-generation Connecticut native from Old Saybrook, Ann Petry made history in 1931 as the first Black woman to graduate from the Connecticut College of Pharmacy, now the UConn School of Pharmacy. Inspired by her aunt, Anna L. James, the first Black woman pharmacist in Connecticut, Petry was determined to carry on her family's legacy of breaking barriers in healthcare. After earning her degree, she worked as a pharmacist in Old Saybrook and Old Lyme.

Petry would later channel her talent and passion into a celebrated literary career. Her 1946 novel The Street became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than one million copies, earning her national recognition and a permanent place in American literary history. She was posthumously inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, a dual honor that reflects the breadth of her extraordinary life.

Dr. Emily Dunning Barringer: First Female Ambulance Surgeon

A long-time New Canaan resident, Dr. Emily Dunning Barringer made history as the first woman ambulance surgeon in New York City. After earning her medical degree from Cornell University School of Medicine in 1901, she was initially denied hospital internship positions, despite finishing first in competitive examinations, solely because of her gender. Undeterred, she reapplied the following year with the support of reform mayor Seth Low and community leaders, and received her appointment at Gouverneur Hospital.

Her distinguished 50-year career included surgery at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and a sustained campaign to place female physicians in military service during World War I, efforts for which she received a decoration from the King of Serbia. Dr. Barringer and her husband made New Canaan their permanent home after World War II, and she wrote her 1950 autobiography there. She was posthumously inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.

Dr. Hilda Crosby Standish: Pioneer of Reproductive Health

Born in Hartford in 1902 and educated at Cornell Medical College, Dr. Hilda Crosby Standish led a medical career that spanned continents and decades. During a hospital appointment in Shanghai in the early 1930s, she performed what is believed to have been the first blood transfusion in China. When circumstances prevented her from returning to Asia, she brought that same boldness home to Connecticut.

In 1935, Dr. Standish was recruited to serve as medical director of Hartford's first birth control clinic, a courageous undertaking given that a Connecticut criminal statute dating to 1879 made contraceptives illegal in the state. She also led sex education classes for adolescents, couples entering into marriage, and parents for decades. A lifelong advocate for women's reproductive health, she was instrumental in the legalization of birth control in Connecticut in 1964. Planned Parenthood of Connecticut honored her legacy by naming its West Hartford clinic in her honor, and she was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1994. Dr. Standish lived to 103.

Their Legacy Lives On

The stories of Joyce Yerwood, Annie Keeler Bailey, Ann Petry, Emily Dunning Barringer, and Hilda Crosby Standish remind us that progress in medicine and public health has always required courage, the courage to walk through doors that were never meant to open for you, and then to hold those doors open for others. This Women's History Month, we celebrate their contributions and recommit ourselves to the work of honoring and advancing women's health in Connecticut and beyond.

SOURCES

Western Connecticut State University, Women of Mark: Firsts in Medicine: https://libguides.wcsu.edu/womenofmark/firstsmedicine

Connecticut History, New Canaan's Pioneering Female Physician: https://connecticuthistory.org/new-canaans-pioneering-female-physician/

Connecticut History, Hilda Crosby Standish: https://connecticuthistory.org/hilda-crosby-standish-early-proponent-of-womens-reproductive-health/

UConn Today, A Dose of History: Pioneers of UConn Pharmacy: https://today.uconn.edu/2025/05/a-dose-of-history-pioneers-of-uconn-pharmacy/