Emma Louise Call

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Emma Louise Call (1847–1937) was an American physician, and one of the first female physicians in the United States. [1] Along with Sigmund Exner, she is one of the namesakes of Call-Exner bodies, a pathognomonic feature of granulosa cell tumors. These tumors are associated with ovarian cancers.

Sigmund Exner Austrian physiologist

Sigmund Exner was an Austrian physiologist born in Vienna.

Call-Exner bodies

Call–Exner bodies, giving a follicle-like appearance, are small eosinophilic fluid-filled punched out spaces between granulosa cells. The granulosa cells are usually arranged haphazardly around the space.

Ovarian cancer female reproductive organ cancer that is located in the ovary

Ovarian cancer is a cancer that forms in or on an ovary. It results in abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. When this process begins, there may be no or only vague symptoms. Symptoms become more noticeable as the cancer progresses. These symptoms may include bloating, pelvic pain, abdominal swelling, and loss of appetite, among others. Common areas to which the cancer may spread include the lining of the abdomen, lymph nodes, lungs, and liver.

Biography

Call received her MD from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1873, and moved to Vienna as Sigmund Exner's postgraduate student. In 1875, they published the manuscript announcing their findings of the pathology findings - eosinophilic follicles present in ovarian tumors - that would later be named after the two of them. [2] [3] This would be Call's only publication, as she later returned to Boston and practiced clinically as an obstetrician for 40 years. Call would become the first woman to receive membership into the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1884. [4]

A Doctor of Medicine is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, Canada and other countries, the MD denotes a professional graduate degree awarded upon graduation from medical school. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and other countries, the MD is a research doctorate, higher doctorate, honorary doctorate or applied clinical degree restricted to those who already hold a professional degree in medicine; in those countries, the equivalent professional degree is typically titled Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).

Eosinophil

Eosinophils, sometimes called eosinophiles or, less commonly, acidophils, are a variety of white blood cells and one of the immune system components responsible for combating multicellular parasites and certain infections in vertebrates. Along with mast cells and basophils, they also control mechanisms associated with allergy and asthma. They are granulocytes that develop during hematopoiesis in the bone marrow before migrating into blood, after which they are terminally differentiated and do not multiply.

"I entered the Medical Department of the University the first year that women were admitted. The first class of women...were naturally the objects of much attention critical or otherwise (especially critical) so that in many ways it was quite an ordeal. I believe that only one of the medical faculty was even moderately in favor of the admission of women, so that it speaks well for their conscientiousness when I say (with possibly one exception) we felt that we had [a] square deal from them all." [1]

With regard to Call's quote, Robert H. Young stated that "Corydon Ford had taught Elizabeth Blackwell at Geneva Medical College and was tolerant of the women students, but not all the professors were so kind. The professor of chemistry, Silas Douglas, did not intervene when the men students stamped their feet and shouted as the women entered the lecture room for the one subject that was taught to mixed classes." [1]

Elizabeth Blackwell England-born American physician, abolitionist, womens rights activist

Elizabeth Blackwell was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council. Blackwell played an important role in both the United States and the United Kingdom as a social and moral reformer, and pioneered in promoting education for women in medicine. Her contributions remain celebrated with the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, awarded annually to a woman who has made significant contribution to the promotion of women in medicine.

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Teratoma germ cell and embryonal cancer that is an encapsulated tumor with tissue or organ components resembling normal derivatives of all three germ layers

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Germ cell tumor Rare germ cell tumor

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Louise Southgate was one of the first women physicians in Northern Kentucky where she advocated for girls in the juvenile court system and was an early proponent of birth control. Besides her medical practice and outreach, she led many efforts for the American women's suffrage movement through her local clubs and the Kentucky Equal Rights Association.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "dictionary of medical eponyms". Whonamedit. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=VdY-AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA362&lpg=PA362&dq=emma+louise+call&source=bl&ots=q_045tm5cb&sig=6UdsVncnN_3s_06V3FPrUGE-nTM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwADgKahUKEwiKpLTv8s7HAhUUMogKHeVzA3I#v=onepage&q=emma%20louise%20call&f=false
  3. Emma Louise Call and Sigmund Exner: Zur Kenntniss des Graafschen Follikels und des Corpus luteum beim Kaninchen. Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematish naturwssenschaftliche Classe, Wien, 1875, 72: 321-328.
  4. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/279274712_fig2_Fig-2-Emma-Louise-Call-1847-1937-courtesy-of-the-University-of-Michigan-student