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El Paso Community College
Library Research Guides

Frontera: Women in Medicine and Science

Centralized guide to all EPCC's local history publications, videos and guides and sources for local history topics

Women in Medicine and Science

Bishop, Ida, Dr.  This physician and her doctor husband arrived in El Paso in 1888, and established their practices in the Sheldon building, there until 1910, and then the Herald building.   She would later become president of the Pioneer Women's Association.  She is believed to be the first woman to practice medicine in Texas.  Per Richard Bussell, in the Conquistador newsletter of the El Paso County Historical Society, Fall 2007.

De Laney, Ramona E., Retd. Col.   military nurse / Army Nurse Corps  

UTEP Special Collections MS546 De Laney (Ramona E.) papers nursing; military; women; Korea; Vietnam 1935-2006
See link below: 

El Paso Water all women engineering management team

  • Interim Chief Technical Officer Irazema Rojas
  • Engineering Division Manager for Planning and Development Adriana Castillo
  • Engineering Division Manager for Water/Wastewater Engineering Amy Castner
  • Water Production Manager Veronica Galindo
  • Engineering Division Manager for Stormwater Engineering Gisela Dagnino
  • Wastewater Treatment Manager Aide Fuentes

Faudoa, Rita 1887- Early El Paso healthcare worker 

granddaughter of Francisca Alarcon (See paragraph in our Notable Women page), 25 yrs as assistant to obstetricians and pediatricians in El Paso.

Garcia, Dr. Catalina Esperanza  born and raised in the Segundo Barrio, 

Gunn, Ira P.  1927-2011.  Military Nurse Anesthesist

Lt. Colonel visionary and tireless advocate for the profession of nurse anesthesia,  Buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Hill, Dr. Mattie Foster physician suffragist Follow link below:

Hoenes, Isabel Welsh, Dr.  first woman dentist in El Paso

Johnson, Davie   African American, nurse and gerontology activist

Kerrick, Ginger  division chief of the Flight Operations Directorate Integration Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Merchant, Alice Dr. Physician.  Follow link below:

McDonald, Nancy Hanks  nurse who used her medical knowledge to promote advances in childhood immunization, HIV/AIDs and the El Paso Psychiatric Center

Rodgers, Marie Col. Ret. Army Nurse who volunteered to serve in Vietnam

Schuster, Eugenia Hungarian aristocrat, married to Dr. Michael P. Schuster, active civic leader  See link for information on the entire family. 

Slater, Elsie McElroy   biologist, teacher, artist and writer, married to newspaper editor Hughes DeCourcey Slater.

Stewart, Dr. Sarah Elizabeth  Mexican-American cancer researcher 

Williams, Sister Aloysius  Director of the Hotel Dieu School of Nursing

Once you have more research done, check out the UTEP LIbrary's Special Collections manuscript: 

Local Medical Sources

Manuscript Collection at the UTEP Special Collections Dept of the Library: 
MS660 El Paso County Medical Society Auxiliary records
subject areas: polio, doctors, border health, medicine, women's organizations
coverage: 1922 - 2018

Research tips

Note details that might seem insignificant at first glance, in case one finds other information later.

Women's information is often found through researching the men in their lives (i.e. husband, fathers, etc.) so the notes here might only state that Mrs. X was married to Mr. X who was important for some reason, but in researching him, there might be information about his wife found later.

Research full text of local newspaper articles back to 1881 in this database available to EPCC users and in person in EPCC Libraries: 

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