Ruth Jackson

Ruth Jackson (1902 to 1994) was the first woman in the United States to become a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and the first woman admitted to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Born on a farm near Scranton, Iowa, she grew up in Dallas, Texas, earned her medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in 1928 and trained in orthopaedics under Arthur Steindler at the University of Iowa and in residency at Worcester, Massachusetts. General surgery internships were closed to women, so she turned to orthopaedics, opened a private practice in Dallas in 1932 and became board certified in 1937, a step the Academy required before admitting her. She helped found the Texas Orthopaedic Association in 1936, established the first orthopaedic residency at Parkland Hospital, wrote The Cervical Syndrome from her treatment of more than 15,000 neck injuries and invented the Jackson Cervi-Pillow for whiplash victims. The Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, a network for women in the field, is named for her.