Dr Jessie D Read

American gynecologist and obstetrician, Jessie D. Read (1903-1978) received her medical degree from Long Island College Medical School in 1928, later volunteering in 1943 to serve as one of only thirteen female Army physicians.

Following her graduation, Read worked in the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in obstetrics and gynecology. She also interned at Bellevue Hospital in children and adult surgery. By 1930, Read had become a resident obstetrician at Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital in Jersey City. She opened her own practice one year later in the same city.

Read volunteered in 1943 to serve as one of only thirteen female Army physicians. Once she returned from Army life, Read formed an obstetrics and gynecology partnership in Westfield, NJ with two male colleagues. She was named a diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and became a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1948.

Throughout her years spent in the medical profession, Read had shown a particular interest in vaginal cytology as a diagnostic procedure. In fact, Dr. Read had been taking vaginal smears well before the routine use of the pap smear. As a result of her innovative practice, Read was named the 1966 Woman of the Year in Medicine by the New Jersey Medical Women’s Association. She was also a member of the American Medical Association, New Jersey Medical Society, New Jersey Obstetrics and Gynecology Society, and American Medical Women’s Association.

References:
Burstyn, Joan N. 1990. “Jessie D. Read”. Past and Promise, Lives of New Jersey Women. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54795076

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Dr Claudia J Alexander

Dr. Alexander’s role in the Rosetta mission, the first to land on a comet, was not her only triumph. She was also a project manager on NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter and was a member of the technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As a researcher, Alexander’s studies included the evolution and interior physics of comets, Jupiter and its moons, magnetospheres, plate tectonics, space plasma, the solar wind and the planet Venus. She wrote or co-authored 14 papers.

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Annie J Easley

In her 34 years at NASA/NACA, she contributed to numerous programs as a computer scientist, inspire many through her enthusiastic participation in outreach programs, break down barriers for women and people of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) fields, and win the admiration and respect of her coworkers.

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Dr Vera Schectman

Vera Schectman (1890-1971) was from Odessa and emigrated to the United States, where she became a decorated doctor in Newark, New Jersey.

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Dr Sophia Presley

Sophia Presley (1834-1909) was an instructor of surgery, a director of the Camden Women’s club, and was a member of the Camden County Medical Society.

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Dr Tracy Caldwell Dyson

Tracy C. Dyson has a Ph.D. in Chemistry, and is a veteran of three space flights. Dr. Dyson has designed, constructed and implemented electronics and hardware for the study of atmospheric gas phase chemistry, and has developed and presented numerous papers on methods of chemical ionization for the spectral interpretation of trace compounds.

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Christina Koch

Christina Hammock Koch was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013. She served as flight engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) for Expedition 59, 60 and 61. Koch set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalk.

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Dr Olivia J Hooker

Dr. Olivia J. Hooker, a survivor of the Tulsa race massacre, blazed a trail as the first Black woman on active duty in the US Coast Guard.

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