March is Women’s History Month, which makes it a very appropriate time to reflect on the important contributions in science, communities, and family life that women play in advancing wellness and health for women, their children, their families, their communities, and even the men in their lives. Yes, there’s no question that men’s health is an important woman’s issue
No one should forget the significant contributions that celebrated scientists and clinicians such as Marie Cure and Florence Nightengale made to advancing both knowledge and compassionate skill, but we should also never forget the millions of women who provide day-to-day care and guidance about wellness and health in their community and families, and the thousands of healthcare providers in all disciplines, including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, first-responders, and hard-core research and discovery scientists such as Rosalind Franklin who was first to describe the DNA double helix and Katalin Kariko who early on applied mRNA vaccine technology to help develop the COVID vaccines that have saved millions of lives. We also recognize women such as Henrietta Lacks, whose HeLa “immortal cells” have been used to better understand and treat a variety of conditions that affect women, including cervical cancer.
This month (and, honestly, every month), we honor and celebrate these and countless others who may not have bibliographic citations, but who get it done day after day after day. Thank you!
Here are links to a video and four articles that provide some insight into the vast contributions women have made.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/womenshistory/women-in-health.htm
https://osp.od.nih.gov/hela-cells/
https://hive.rochesterregional.org/2021/03/history-of-women-in-healthcare
Photo by Diane Serik on Unsplash
