Eleanor Rodgerson was born on August 8, 1909 in Sacramento to Robert Rodgerson (1865-1942) and Nellie Jane (Chisholm) Rodgerson (1874-1967). She graduated from Sacramento High School in 1927 and received her AA degree from Sacramento City College in 1929. Eleanor graduated from Stanford University in 1931 and then went on to earn an M.D. degree also from Stanford in 1935. She interned at Stanford Hospitals during 1934-1935 and was then a resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Children's Hospital, San Francisco, in 1935-1936. She interned further in obstetrics at Chicago Lying-In Hospital in 1937-1938 and the following year she was the obstetrics resident for the Chicago Maternity Center. In 1939, Rodgerson returned to Sacramento where she established a private obstetrics and gynecology practice and simultaneously served (on a volunteer basis) as the resident physician at Sacramento's Fairhaven Home for unmarried mothers. On January 15, 1942, she married Donald A. McKinnon (1913-1978) who was also a local obstetrician-gynecologist. She and Donald had four children: John Robert McKinnon (b. 1943), Donald Chisholm McKinnon (b. 1944), Jane Ruble McKinnon (b. 1947), and William Rodgerson McKinnon (b. 1948). During Rodgerson's career in Sacramento, she was a member of the staff of Sutter General Hospital and Mercy Hospital. She was also the obstetrician for Fairhaven Home for Girls. She was a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Medical Association, and the California Medical Association. Following the birth of her fourth and last child in 1948, she took a break of ten years from her medical practice to focus on raising her family. Returning to her medical practice, she also started a writing career with a syndicated newspaper column titled "Questions Women Ask" as Eleanor B. Rodgerson, M.D. In 1966, she and her husband Donald spent a month in Afghanistan, volunteering as obstetricians and medical trainers for the Afghans. In the 1970s she was a member of the faculty of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. She also worked for the Student Health Clinic at Sacramento State College where she retired from active medical practice at the age of 70 in 1979. Her writing career continued through the rest of her life with numerous magazine articles as a member of the editorial board of the magazine, Sierra Sacramento Valley Medicine. Rodgerson passed away on April 24, 2007, at the age of 97.
From the description of Eleanor Rodgerson papers, 1928-2005. (University of California, Davis). WorldCat record id: 64681720
