Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier, MD
(1813–1888) As New York State barred women as physicians in hospitals, in 1863 Dr. Clemence Lozier founded a medical school exclusively for female students, the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, which was staffed and supervised by the College’s male faculty.
In 1860, prior to opening the school, Dr. Clemence began a series of lectures from her home on anatomy, physiology, and hygiene as these topics were regularly neglected in women’s education. Seeing high demand for the lectures and tired of seeing qualified women get turned away from medical school, Dr. Clemence, with the help of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was able to persuade the New York State legislature to grant her a charter for a women’s medical college. In 1863, the New York Medical College for Women opened with seven female students in the inaugural class, and a faculty of eight doctors, four men and four women.
Over the next twenty-five years, the school grew and placed more than 200 female graduates in medical practice throughout the U.S. and abroad. The school’s hospital was the first place in New York where doctors of their own gender could treat women, and its clinic attracted up to 2,000 female patients each year.
Dr. Clemence was President of New York Woman’s Suffrage Society from 1873-1886, and very active in other suffrage organizations. She gave the commencement address at the medical school’s 25th graduation ceremony in 1888 and passed away two days later at the age of 74.
Green-Wood Cemetery
Section 152, Lot 19173
500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Kings County