Marie K. Formad
American physician (1860–1944)
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Marie K. Formad (October 30, 1860 – February 21, 1944) was a Russian-born, American physician who worked for 52 years at Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia as a teaching surgeon, gynecologist, and pathologist. She served as a surgeon in the French Army in World War I from 1918 to 1919 and received the Honour medal for courage and devotion from the French government for her wartime service.
Marie K. Formad | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 30, 1860 Russia |
| Died | February 21, 1944 (aged 83) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place | West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Physician |
Early life and education
Formad was born October 30, 1860,[1] in Russia. She moved to the United States in 1883.[2] She graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1886,[3] with a thesis titled "Some Notes on Criminal Abortion".[4]
Career
Formad was elected to the post of vaccine physician for Philadelphia's Eleventh District in 1887.[5] She worked for 52 years at Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia, as a teaching surgeon, gynecologist, and pathologist.[6][7][8]
During World War I, Formad accepted a commission as a surgeon in the French army in 1917.[9] She served fourteen months, from January 1918 to March 1919, in a Women's Overseas Hospital (WOH) unit in France.[10][11] She directed and performed surgery at a 125-bed refugee hospital at Labouheyre,[12] supported by the National Woman Suffrage Association,[13] working alongside doctors Laura E. Hunt[14] and Mabel Seagrave.[15] The hospital grew under Formad's direction, and served about 10,000 refugees during its existence;[16] two of the American nurses at Labouheyre, Winifred Warder and Eva Emmons, died from influenza there.[17] After the armistice, Formad went to Nancy to work as a surgeon caring for repatriating French civilians.[18][19][20] She received the Medaille d'honneur from the French government for her wartime service.[21]
She was the first woman member of the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia.[22] With Calista V. Luther and two other women doctors, she ran an evening dispensary, the Medical Aid Society for Self-Supporting Women, to treat working women at a more convenient time than other clinics.[23] She was a mentor to Catharine Macfarlane.[24] She retired in 1938.[3]
Personal life
Her older brother Henry F. Formad, was a pathology professor on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, and served as Coroner's Physician in Philadelphia.[4] Another brother, Robert Julius Formad, was also a pathologist, an expert on veterinary oncology.[25]
Marie Formad cared for her older brother Henry in his last months; he died in 1892.[26][27] She died February 21, 1944, in Philadelphia[3] and was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[1] She left her estate mainly to her two nieces, Marie and Charlotte.[28]
