Other Portraits
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL M.D. (1821 - 1910)
Elizabeth Blackwell M.D. was the first woman to earn an M.D. from an accredited medical school. Born in Bristol England in 1821, she was the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Blackwell, who raised their children to believe in equal education and opportunities for both sexes. Dr. Blackwell began her studies at Geneva College of Medicine in November 1847 and graduated top of her class on January 23, 1849. Her time at Geneva was plagued by difficulties with fellow students and many members of the faculty, but also with members of the community who shunned her as an “unnatural” woman. Criticism of her and of the medical school was so robust that Dr. Blackwell decided to pursue her postgraduate education in Europe, where she trained as a surgeon. It was during her studies at St. Batholomew’s Hospital in London that her lifelong friendship and collaboration with Florence Nightingale began. Dr. Blackwell returned to the United States in 1851, but found it so difficult to find work in a hospital or practice that she determined to start her own infirmary. The New York Infirmary for Women and Children was opened in 1857 and cared for pediatric and obstetrical and gynecological patients, while also running a medical school for women. Dr. Blackwell worked closely with Nightingale to provide care for the sick and wounded during the American Civil War. Dr. Blackwell eventually returned to the UK, where she was the first women to be entered in the British Medical Register, and where she continued to practice medicine and to write prolifically until her retirement in 1907. She died on May 31, 1910 and is buried in Kilmun, Scotland.
SARAH LOGUEN FRASER M.D. (1850 - 1933)
Sarah Loguen Fraser M.D. was born in Syracuse, NY as Marinda Sarah Loguen to Caroline Storum and the Reverend Jermain Wesley Loguen. Her parents were lifelong abolitionists and the family home was a safe house on the Underground Railroad that harbored nearly 1,500 African Americans en route to asylum in Canada. Dr. Loguen Fraser graduated from the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1876, making her the fourth African American woman in the United States to earn a formal medical degree. Her medical practice focused heavily on pediatric and obstetric care, due to need and personal inclination, but also owing to restrictions on women physicians of the era. Dr. Loguen Fraser moved to the Dominican Republic with her husband Dr. Charles Fraser, a pharmacist and plantation owner, and was able to run a free clinic with the funds from her husband’s successful business. After the death of her husband in 1894, Dr. Loguen Fraser lived in Washington D.C., France, and even returned to Syracuse for a short time. Dr. Loguen Fraser was educated during the propitious years following the end of slavery, before the abrupt end of the egalitarian movement that ended under constraints of Jim Crow racism. By the turn of the century she found herself struggling financially and professionally. She continued to practice despite these obstacles and was honored by Howard University on the 50th anniversary of her graduation from medical school. She died of kidney disease at her daughter’s home in 1933. SUNY Upstate has honored Dr. Loguen’s legacy by naming a street, Sarah Loguen Place, and the Dr. Sarah Loguen Center in her honor. A scholarship and annual lecture was established in 2000 to honor her 150th birthday.
CARLYLE F. JACOBSEN PH.D. AND ELLEN COOK JACOBSEN M.D.
This portrait of Carlyle F. Jacobsen Ph.D. and his wife Ellen Cook Jacobsen M.D. was commissioned in 2014 when the Medical Alumni Auditorium Lobby was dedicated for the couple. Dr. Carlyle Jacobsen was the first President of SUNY Upstate Medical University and Dr. Ellen Cook Jacobsen was an alumna, a long time faculty member, and the founding director of both the Student Health and Employee Health Services at Upstate.
Additional biographical information may be found with their individual portraits.
SUZANNE H. MURRAY M.S.L.S. (1932 - 2005)
Suzanne H. Murray M.S.L.S. served as the director of the Library for SUNY Upstate from 1987 until 1995. Under her leadership, a new library building was opened in 1995. Ms. Murray received her master of science in Library Sciences from Syracuse University in 1960, where she focused on bibliography, and cataloging and classification. She received a Medical Library Association Scholarship to Columbia University’s course in medical bibliography and was awarded a Central New York Regional Medical Program Feasibility Study Grant in 1971 to design and run a medical library book mobile to illustrate to hospital personnel in a 17-county area how a relatively small, but targeted, collection could provide access to up-to-date medical information. Ms. Murray began her library career as a reference librarian at SUNY Upstate in 1960. She also served as the collection development librarian and associate director of the Library. Ms. Murray was selected for two People to People Delegations; the first delegation of medical librarians traveled to China in 1989 and the second delegation of medical educators traveled to Russia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1992.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (1882 - 1945)
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. He took office in 1933 and was elected to four consecutive terms. In 1936, President Roosevelt was in attendance at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the new building being erected to house the Syracuse University College of Medicine, which was partially paid for with federal funds. The president laid the cornerstone for the new building and the trowel he used is part of the Historical Collections of the Health Sciences Library. The building is now known as Weiskotten Hall and the cornerstone, engraved with “1936”, is clearly visible.