Boynton, Ruth E. (Ruth Evelyn), 1896-1977

Ruth Evelyn Boynton was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in 1896. She received her MD from the University in 1921, and then stayed at the University as Assistant to the Director of Health until leaving for a year in 1927 to work at the University of Chicago. She returned to the University to be chief medical advisor for women students and an Associate Professor of Preventative Medicine and Public Health in 1928. She became Assistant Director of Health Services in 1935, and Director in 1936. Boynton was noted for her innovations in student health, by offering complete health care for University students, environmental health and safety programs, and the addition of psychiatric care for students. She wrote more than 85 papers on topics ranging from tuberculosis mortality to the health of college students and its relation to national defense. Boynton retired to Florida in 1961, and died in 1977 at the age of 81.