Blackwell is more than just a woman physician trailblazer — she is the woman physician trailblazer. Not only was Blackwell the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, she was also the first woman to be included on the UK Medical Register. She opened her own practice, but met small patient volumes as a result of various social stigmas. Elizabeth and her sister Emily, alongside Marie Zakrzewska, MD, expanded Blackwell’s small dispensary into the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children in 1857.
Some people acquire the knack for practicing integrative medicine, others are seemingly born with it. Raby is most certainly the latter, having been inspired during her early childhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico by the intricacies of holistic and allopathic medicine. Those experiences helped carry Raby through her advocacy for instilling integrative medicine rotations in obstetrics and gynecology residencies, fundraising for research exploring acupuncture and in-vitro fertilization as well as her help advancing legislation to support the licensing of naturopathic doctors in Illinois. What’s more, she founded the aptly named Raby Institute in 2009, and still makes time to serve some of medicine’s most prominent members’ clubs: the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association and the Institute for Functional Medicine.
A trained internist, pediatrician and public health specialist, Experton has served the industry at a variety of levels, from entrepreneur to adjunct professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. She has also played a major role in conducting groundbreaking health services research on the elderly and advocating for consumer-mediated exchange, backing the Blue Button initiative from its inception. She is currently CEO of Humetrix, a developer of mobile applications for healthcare.
Hamilton may have hung up her community pediatrician’s coat, but retirement hasn’t stopped her from influencing the industry in other ways. As a holistic wellness speaker, Hamilton works to optimize the health of adults, and therein, the health of the nation’s children. She is currently the chief wellness officer for Manifest Excellence and serves as vice president of communications for the Artemis Medical Society.
It’s all about getting to the heart of health issues. At least that’s what Hayes' work proves. Using her extensive knowledge of cardiovascular disease and prevention, Hayes has discovered a great deal about the condition and how it uniquely affects women. Hayes has conducted research with her team at the Women’s Heart Clinic on spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a cause of acute coronary syndrome that occurs predominantly in young women. Currently, Hayes is among the research faculty at the Mayo Clinic.
Medicine combines adventure, science and care for the underserved world — that’s why Haas traveled the globe and the United States to acquire a background in family practice. She has worked and trained in places like India, Haiti, Libya, Germany, Ireland, Maine and all over Texas. It was in the Lone Star State where she — with fellow physician and husband Tim Gueramy, MD — channeled this love of medicine into a love for health IT, and co-founded DocbookMD, developer of a secure messaging app for doctors. She currently works full-time as the chief medical officer for DocbookMD.
Vital, a certified internist and nephrologist, is president and CEO of Vital Health & Wellness Center in Houston. Vital’s influence has touched down in multiple organizations and regions across the United States, foremost Florida and Texas, where she moved in 2005 to serve as the associate program director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program in the Internal Medicine Department for the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. While practicing nephrology in the private office setting, Vital’s interest in comprehensive wellness, prevention and weight loss took flight. Now she serves as a member of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, The Obesity Society, and the Obesity Action Coalition, and is a founding member of the Artemis Medical Society.
López’s work has focused on increasing access to cancer care, particularly for women and underserved populations. Certified in oncology, López is professor of medicine, pathology and public health, and is the author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications. The founding medical director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program at the University of Arizona, López is a firm believer in the power of innovative applications of technology to facilitate disease prevention and health care delivery.
Having been a longtime fixture for MGMA-ACMPE as its CEO and having served as the executive vice president and CEO of the Wisconsin Medical Society, Turney knows a thing or two about ushering an organization to excellence. This will suit her well when she takes the reins at the newly formed Marshfield Clinic Health System as CEO in the coming months. Turney has been a strong advocate on behalf of increased testing and coordination in advance of the ICD-10 transition, among many other things.
A recognized "Woman of Excellence in Health Care" by the Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus and winner of the American Medical Student Association’s Women’s Leader Award in 2014, DeSalvo has been making waves across the healthcare industry for quite some time now. She used her medical training and knowledge of public health to establish an award-winning model of neighborhood-based primary care and mental health services during the fallout caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. DeSalvo, alongside other prestigious seats, currently serves as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology with the ONC.
