Thirty-seven years ago, administrators at the School of Medicine demonstrated their confidence in the teaching and research abilities of Dr. Dorothy M. Horstmann by making her the school's first woman professor. That honor was only the first of many the medical research scientist has received during a career at Yale spanning more than 50 years. Most recently, her colleagues at the School of Medicine have acknowledged her contributions by hanging her portrait in one of the school's central hallways.
The framed portrait of Horstmann, who is the John Rodman Pual Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Pediatrics, was hung on the second floor of the Sterling Hall of Medicine's L wing, approaching the Beaumont Room, where it will serve as a continual reminder of her place in the school's history.
During her career as biomedical scientist, clinician and teacher, Horstmann focused her internationally recognized work on epidemiology and infectious diseases, especially those due to viruses. She is best known for her work on poliomyelitis and rubella (German measles). She played a major role in developing and evaluating vaccines for both diseases.
Horstmann first came to Yale in 1942 as the Commonwealth Fund Fellow in the section of preventive medicine -- then part of the department of internal medicine -- where she worked with Dr. John R. Paul. In 1944, she returned to the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), where she earned her M.D. degree and where she was honored years later as the 1990 UCSF Alumna of the Year. After serving for a year there as an instructor in medicine, she joined the Yale medical faculty in 1945. Upon returning to the medical school, she worked again in the section of preventive medicine and became a member of the Yale Poliomyelitis Study Unit. In 1969, she was named the John Rodman Paul Professor.
Her honors during her career have also included election to the National Academy of Sciences. In the mid-1990s, she was a member of the International Commission of the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication.
Just as Horstmann's career took path-breaking steps, her portrait, too, employs a new technique. Her colleague, Dr. James C. Niederman, clinical professor of epidemiology, took Horstmann's photograph and, through an innovative process, had the color negative printed on linen, rather than traditional paper.
Since Horstmann attained the rank of professor, the number of tenured faculty at the medical school has increased to 50 women, which represents nearly 15 percent of the total faculty. This proportion surpasses the national average of women faculty at medical schools, which is 10 percent.
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