TCCL News & Events

Since the mid-1800s when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn an M.D. degree in America, women have made enormous strides in every area of medicine and have achieved success in work once considered “unsuitable” for women.

Join Tulsa City-County Library and the OU School of Community Medicine for a traveling exhibition and complementary programming featuring the life stories of a rich diversity of women physicians from around the nation and highlighting the broad range of medical specialties women are involved in today.

“Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians” is on display June 11 through July 24 at Central Library, second floor, Fourth Street and Denver Avenue. The traveling exhibition spotlights the extraordinary story of how American women who wanted to practice medicine have struggled over the past two centuries to gain access to medical education and to work in the specialty they chose. The exhibition includes interactive kiosks providing educational activities, information about medical careers and biographies of outstanding women physicians.

To complement the exhibition, Tulsa City-County Library and the OU School of Community Medicine are offering the following free programs:

• “Panel Discussion: Women and Careers in Medicine,” 6 to 7:30 p.m., June 16, OU-Tulsa Schusterman Learning Center, Perkins Auditorium, 4502 E. 41st St. Notable physicians from the OU School of Community Medicine and OSU-Tulsa College of Osteopathic Medicine will discuss how they decided to become doctors and what it’s like to practice medicine from a woman’s point of view. Ondria Gleason, M.D., department of psychiatry, OU School of Community Medicine, Tulsa, is the keynote speaker. Panelists are Sharolyn Cook, D.O., cardiologist, OSU-Tulsa Medical Center; Heath Mueller, OU-Tulsa resident; and Megan Wilson, OSU-Tulsa medical student. For more information, contact Lynn Yeager at 660-3216.
• “Women in Health Careers – Exploring the Possibilities,” a workshop for ages 10-18, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 24, Central Library, Aaronson Auditorium. Girls ages 10-18 are invited to join Ebony Skillens of Northeast Oklahoma Area Health Education Center and explore medical careers that offer a hands-on approach to health care. The workshop also features guest speakers and a who-done-it medical mystery. Seating is limited. Reservations are required. Call 596-7940 to reserve a seat.
• “Children’s Interactive Health Fair,” 10 a.m. to noon, July 18, Broken Arrow Library, 300 W. Broadway. How long is your digestive system? How fast does your heart beat? Learn the answers to these questions and more at this health fair for kids ages 5-12. Visit interactive booths, put together a giant floor puzzle of the human body, color at the coloring station and tour a real-life ambulance.

The traveling exhibition “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians” was developed by the Exhibition Program of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine in collaboration with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition has been made possible by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health. The American Medical Women’s Association provided additional support.

For more information about the “Changing the Face of Medicine” exhibit or programming, call 596-7977 or visit www.tulsalibrary.org.