Medicine

On February 14, 1998, the first National Donor Day was held in the US. The annual event is held to raise awareness of the need for organ and tissue donations and to honor those who have donated, those who have received donations, and those we lost before donations became available.

On January 23, 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to graduate from medical school.

Severo Ochoa de Albornoz was born on September 24, 1905, in Luarca, Spain. Ochoa researched how cells build proteins like RNA, which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1956.

Health activist and philanthropist Mary Woodward Lasker was born on November 30, 1900, in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Dr. William Boyd Allison Davis was born on October 14, 1902, in Washington, DC. 

On October 6, 1852, the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Physician Edward Livingston Trudeau was born on October 5, 1848, in New York City.

On May 12, 1921, the US celebrated National Hospital Day for the first time.

Performer and philanthropist Danny Thomas was born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz on January 6, 1912, in Deerfield, Michigan.  In addition to his successful performing career, Thomas was the founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.