Japanese American nursing educator Dr. May Shiga Hornback introduced innovative televised and telephone-based nursing instruction to students across Wisconsin.

Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill was the second Native American woman in the US to earn a medical degree and was the primary caregiver for the Oneida Reservation for many years.

Dr. Marci Bowers is an internationally respected surgeon who specializes in gender-affirming surgery and clitoral restoration.

Laura Ross Wolcott was the first woman physician in Wisconsin and was active in the women’s suffrage movement.

Betsy Thunder was a respected Ho-Chunk medicine woman known for her skill in making remedies from roots and plants.

Donna Shalala was the first woman to head a Big Ten university and the longest-serving secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Bertha Reynolds, known as “Dr. Bertha,” was one of the first women to be licensed as a doctor in the state.

Barbara Nichols was the first African American president of the Wisconsin Nurses Association and of the American Nurses Association.

Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb was a popular physician in Northern Wisconsin who provided health care where few medical services were available.

Janet Jennings, a news reporter, became known as “the Angel of the Seneca” for her heroic nursing work during the Spanish-American War.