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Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix was the Union's Superintendant of Female Nurses during the Civil War. She was nicknamed "Dragon Dix" because of her strict hospital policies. -
Mary Ann Bickerdyke
Served as a Union nurse in the Civil War. Nicknamed "Mother Bickerdyke" because the soldiers loved her so much. After the war she lobbied in Washington to secure pensions for Civil War Nurses and Veterans. -
Linda Richards
Known as the first professionally trained American Nurse. -
Mary Eliza Mahoney
Known as the first African American Registered Nurse in the U.S. She was also the cofounder of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. -
Clara Barton
Founder of the American Red Cross. -
Isabel Hampton Robb
Founded the groups that later became the American Nurses Association and the National League of Nursing Education. Was the first president of the ANA. -
Lillian Wald
Founded the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service and the Henry Street Settlement which gave care to everyone in need, regardless of race or religion. -
Mary Adelaide Nutting
She was the world's first professor of Nursing at Columbia University. She was named Honorary President of the Florence Nightengale Foundation. -
Margaret Sanger
She was a nurse until leaving the profession to educate women on birth control. She also founded what later became known as Planned Parenthood. -
Annie Goodrich
She developed and became dean of the first nursing program at Yale. She developed the program into the Yale Graduate School of Nursing 10 years later. -
Virginia Henderson
She famously defined nursing. She also categorized nursing into 14 components, based on human needs. -
Mary Breckinridge
Introduced a model rural healthcare system in southeastern Kentucky that greatly lowered the rate of death in childbirth. It was known as the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS). It inspired the first school of midwifery. -
Ida V. Moffett
One of the most influential nurses in Alabama History. She was a pioneer in setting standards for healthcare. Worked at Birmingham Baptist Hospital, which is now Samford University. They named their nursing school after her. -
Hildegard Peplau
Known as the "mother of psychiatric nursing." She was presented with the award of "Psychiatric Nurse of the Centrury" from UCLA college of Nursing. -
Lillian Holland Harvey
Dean of Tuskegee University School of Nursing for almost 3 decades. Her school was the first to offer a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Nursing in the state of Alabama. -
Martha Rogers
Head of the division of nursing at New York University. After retirement became Professor Emeritus until her death. -
Dorothea Orem
Founder of the Orem Model of Nursing, or Self Care Deficit Nursing theory, which states that "nurses have to supply care when the patient's cannot provide care to themselves." -
Madeleine Leininger
She is recognized as the founder of transcultural nursing. She founded the Journal of Transcultural Nursing to fund the Transcultural Nursing Society. -
Jean Watson
She is the founder of the Original Center for Human Caring in Colorado. She is a widely published author and recipient of several awards and honors. Her books and theories on caring are used worldwide.
