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Dorothy Mabel Reed Mendenhall (1874–1964) a prominent pediatric physician specializing in cellular pathology. In 1901 she proved that Hodgkin's disease was not a form of tuberculosis, and discovered the blood cell disorder characteristic of the disease. Dorothy was one of the first females to Harvard as well as a pioneer in her field. She was one of the first professionally trained female physicians of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Born on September 22, 1874 in Columbus, Ohio Dorothy Mabel Reed graduated from Smith College in 1895. She later attended MIT[3] became one of the first women to graduate from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dorothy Mabel Reed was born on September 22, 1874 in Columbus, Ohio as the third child to parents Grace Kimball and William Pratt Reed. With parents of prominence and privilege Dorothy lived on a large estate with her parents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, and several cousins. In 1880 William Reed died of diabetes and tuberculosis leaving the family with a large sum of money (Weigand). While living on the estate, Dorothy was educated by her grandmother followed by a governess. Formal education began at Smith College in 1891 where Dorothy discovered her passion of medicine in a biology class sophomore year. After discovering that Johns Hopkins had begun to accept women Dorothy took required science courses at MIT then applied to Johns Hopkins (Zwitter). Upon the acceptance of women into Johns Hopkins four women were determined for women to be accepted at the same standard as men. Having raised money for the Women’s Fund Committee the school opened for males and females (Shrager). She graduated fourth fifth in her class in 1900, she and was awarded a prestigious internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, serving under Dr. William Osler. At first Dr. Osler did not want Dorothy attending the school and told her it was not a place for women. Though this comment could show that Dr. Osler did not want women in his school he said later he did not want to be seen as hostile to women entering the medical school (Zwitter). Gaining acceptance as a woman continuously showed difficulties throughout Dorothy’s time in medical school from professors and other students. Upon graduating she was offered an internship in an insane asylum, typical for women physicians, that she declined to study pathology. The next year She became a Pathology fellow there under the direction of Dr. William Welch but faced difficulties from lack of advancement opportunities. Dorothy and her fellow colleagues were more interested in their physician work than a feminist movement (Shrager). Her diary consisted of few entries discussing how some female students were oversensitive, of which Dorothy had low tolerance for. Since many of her views were not feministic, Dorothy and her fellow classmates, Margaret Long and Florence Sabin, were viewed as a different kind of female physician that cared deeply about her work in medicine. Though not feminists, hardships still arose simply from the fact of being a woman. While researching pathology During this period Mendenhall taught bacteriology, assisted with autopsies and undertook research on Hodgkin's disease.[4] Her friend, Margaret Long, was studying tuberculosis at the time of Dorothy’s Hodgkin’s research. She made her best most recognized recognizable contribution to medical science when she discovered the cell that is a primary characteristic of Hodgkin's lymphoma and effectively disproved the common belief that the disease was a form of tuberculosis. When only 28 years old, Dorothy Reed Mendenhall discovered the cell for Hodgkin’s disease and the evolution of the cells. Previously the cells were thought to be a form of tuberculosis but this was proved incorrect from being a neoplastic process. Under the supervision of William Welch in 1901. Giant cells in the lymph nodes are the cause of Hodgkin’s disease and are now called Reed-Sternberg cells. These cells make up Hodgkin’s disease after undergoing a neoplastic process associated with the lymphatic system. She produced her own experiment on rabbits to test her theory of the disease not being related to tuberculosis. Believing that tuberculosis seemed to evolve to Hodgkin’s disease made it lack in clarity. To break this gap, Mendenhall used microscope specimens to look at various patients that possessed the disease. When looking under a microscope, it was shown that the large giant cells could vary in size and the cells had nuclei in random areas. Since the giant cells were distinct in the characteristics it possessed, Hodgkin’s disease was easier to diagnose. The cell was then named the Reed-Sternberg cell because both Reed and Sternberg found the same cells. She discovered the growth of this cell as having a prominent feature that has a peculiar form like a large cell. Mendenhall's findings, published in 1902, brought her international acclaim and the cell became known presented the Reed cell (also called the Sternberg-Reed and Reed–Sternberg cell). However, it was not until later than MacCallum mentioned the research of Dorothy in his textbook on pathology. Dorothy enjoyed her work in pathology but began looking into pediatrics since there were not advancement opportunities in her current field. She then accepted the first internship in pediatrics at the Babies Hospital in New York (now the Babies & Children's Hospital - part of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center). She worked under the direction or L.E. Holt, MD. He was a pioneer of pediatrics, author of the first major textbook on the subject and author of "The care and feeding of children". Upon her arrival there were no physicians present and when Holt was present he showed discrimination towards the female physicians. He was labeled as a plagiarizer after publishing a lecture written by a nurse that he did not help with. She left this facility to marry Charles Mendenhall in 1906. Charles Mendenhall who had been hired as a member of the Physics faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) where he became Chairman. He became the Chairman of that department. Dorothy and Charles had met during Dorothy’s time during medical school at Johns Hopkins. The courtship of the couple was prolonged from her high education. Even in their marriage she continued her work with small children through pediatrics.