Changing the Face of Medicine:Celebrating America's Women Physicians

Sample Announcement of Library Selection for the Tour

The (Name of Library) is one of 61 libraries from across the U.S. selected to host "Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women Physicians," an interactive, multimedia traveling exhibition that honors the lives and achievements of American women in medicine-past and present. The exhibition is based on a larger exhibition that was displayed at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in Bethesda, Maryland, from 2003-2005.

"Changing the Face of Medicine" features stories from a rich diversity of women physicians from around the nation and highlights the broad range of medicine that women have practiced. Women physicians are found in every branch of medicine. They are family practitioners, researchers on the cutting edge of new medical discoveries, educators, surgeons, medical school directors and government officials.

Women physicians of today are benefiting from the career paths carved out since the mid-19th century by a long line of American women doctors. Early women physicians featured in the exhibition include Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to earn an M.D. degree in America, and Matilda Evans, who was the first African American physician to be licensed in South Carolina.

Two interactive kiosks traveling with the exhibition offer access to the National Library of Medicine's "Local Legends" web site (www.nlm.nih.gov/locallegends), which spotlights outstanding women physicians from every state, and to the web site created for the larger exhibition at the NLM (www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine). The exhibition web site offers access to educational and professional resources for those considering medicine as a career, as well as lesson plans for classroom activities. A section of the web site called "Share Your Story," allows the public to add stories about women physicians they know.

"Changing the Face of Medicine" 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 is 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 on the "Changing the Face of Medicine" exhibition at (Name of Library), please call 000-0000.

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