Van Hoosen, Bertha, -1863

Bertha Van Hoosen was born on March 26, 1863 to Joshua and Sarah Taylor Van Hoosen at Stoney Creek, Michigan. Although very supportive of education generally, the Van Hoosen’s did not support their daughter's desire to become a doctor. Despite their views, Van Hoosen graduated from the University of Michigan with her BA in 1884 and then became one of the first women to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School with her MD in 1888.

Van Hoosen’s medical career began with residences at the Women’s Hospital in Detroit, the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo, and the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. In 1892, she opened her own practice in Chicago, specializing in gynecology and obstetrics. During her career, which spanned more than fifty years, Van Hoosen headed the obstetrical department of the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children from 1896 to 1899, was a member of the surgical staff at Provident Hospital, headed the gynecology department at the Northwestern University Women’s Medical School in 1901, and was the first woman to serve on the Cook County (Chicago) medical staff from 1913 to 1920. She also taught as a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Women’s Medical School from 1891 to 1902, at the University of Illinois from 1902 to 1912, and served as the head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Loyola University from 1919 to 1937. Van Hoosen founded and served as the first president of the American Medical Women’s Association in 1915 and was an honorary member of the International Association of Medical Women.

Van Hoosen is known for developing the “buttonhole” appendectomy surgical technique and the use of scopolamine morphine, also known as “Twilight Sleep,” as an anesthetic. Her work also included efforts to publicize the need for and value of sterilization of medical instruments. In her autobiography, Petticoat Surgeon, Van Hoosen states that “medical women have always had to struggle for representation,” (p. 283), and she tried to reduce that struggle throughout her career.

Bertha Van Hoosen died on June 7, 1952.

Bibliography

Bertha Van Hoosen Papers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/findingaids/BVanHoosenf.html) Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame (hall.michiganwomenshalloffame.org)