“Dr. Jessie Gray was the forerunner for women in the field of medicine. An outstanding and excellent surgeon she was noted for her numerous honours and endeavours. I am certain that her life will inspire more women and men to continue the work she so held at heart.”
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, October 18, 1978.
In honour of International Women’s Day, the Miss Margaret Robins Archives of Women’s College Hospital (WCH) is sharing the inspiring story of one of WCH’s most celebrated trailblazers – Dr. Jessie Gray.
Dr. Gray was Head of the WCH Department of Surgery from 1946-1965 and is remembered as Canada’s “First Lady of Surgery” in recognition of the many “firsts” she achieved throughout her medical career. She served as an inspiration to a new generation of female surgeons in Canada – proving in the first half of the 20th century that women could not only become surgeons but could also excel in this historically male-dominated field.
When WCH opened its doors in 1911, there were less than 200 female doctors practicing in all of Canada. Over the decades this number gradually increased, however there were still many medical fields that did not immediately welcome women.
Women who trained to become obstetricians, paediatricians, and family doctors were often more readily accepted by the Canadian medical community and society, while surgery was seen to be “unwomanly” or “unfitting” for female doctors. Dr. Gray would later tease, “If you pin them down, they usually admit they don’t know why, unless it’s a feeling there is something dangerous about a woman with a knife in her hand.”
Dr. Gray graduated from the University of Toronto’s (UofT) Faculty of Medicine in 1934 and was the first woman to receive a gold medal for achieving the highest academic standing in a medical class at the University. Five years later she made history again when she became the first woman in Canada to earn a Master of Surgery degree and the first woman to graduate from UofT’s distinguished Gallie Course in General Surgery.
Dr. Gray graduated from the University of Toronto’s (UofT) Faculty of Medicine in 1934 and was the first woman to receive a gold medal for achieving the highest academic standing in a medical class at the University. Five years later she made history again when she became the first woman in Canada to earn a Master of Surgery degree and the first woman to graduate from UofT’s distinguished Gallie Course in General Surgery.
The following year she was appointed as the first female resident surgeon at Toronto General Hospital and then became the first female Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada in 1941. That year she also joined the staff of WCH and was later appointed its Head of Surgery in 1946.
Dr. Gray became the first female member of the Central Surgical Society of North America in 1948 and four years later she was the first woman to address the Annual Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Throughout her career, she published many academic papers on innovative operative techniques in gastrointestinal and cancer surgery and was considered one of the top four cancer surgeons in North America at the time.
Following her retirement from WCH, Dr. Gray was appointed to the newly established Science Council of Canada to help guide national policy and the direction of scientific research in the country. Dr. Gray was the first and only woman to be appointed to the 25-member council during its inaugural year in 1966.
Dr. Jessie Gray passed away on October 16, 1978, after a long illness. In a series of tributes to Dr. Gray, WCH’s Dr. Olive Ibberson hailed her as “a guiding force in the development of WCH” and WCH’s Dr. Elizabeth Forbes eulogized “This first woman of Canadian surgery earned the profound affection and respect of her friends, colleagues, and patients…. The contributions of this distinguished surgeon have enhanced the lives of many; her teachings will be long remembered.”
This International Women’s Day as we celebrate the achievements of women, we recognize Dr. Jessie Gray as a trailblazer for women in medicine and a role model for future generations of female surgeons in Canada.