Bienvenido, bienvenue, hello and welcome to the website, www.elementarymydearmd.com, and blog of the Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience.

My name is Dr. Michelle K. Watson, my pronouns are she/her/hers/ela/ella/elle, and as your bold, unabashedly intrepid host, I am pleased to have you accompany me on this sublime audio journey where the belief is that equity in medicine can be both evolutionary and revolutionary.

Our mission in healthcare is to include and stay divine, every single time. 

I am thrilled to have you accompany me on this journey to educate, investigate, evaluate, and create an open think tank for solutions necessary for achieving healthcare equity for BIPOC populations around the world.

In continuation of the Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience, this DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion weekly wrap up is in acknowledgement of the unparalleled life and splendid achievements of Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward, the first African-American woman to successfully obtain the doctor of medicine degree in the state of New York, and the third African-American woman to achieve the doctor of medicine, or M.D. degree, in history in the United States. Her degree was conferred by the New York Medical College, formerly known as the New York Medical College for Women in which she matriculated in 1867, one year after a cholera epidemic emerged. 

The New York Medical College remains in possession of a distinctive history of educating women and physicians of color with equanimity, dignity, and respect. I was also accepted to this medical school, but did not attend. However, I would like to publicly express my gratitude to them for the opportunities they provided to me in their classrooms and laboratories while I studied in their summer programs as an undergraduate premedical student in New York City. There is victory in Valhalla for one to train as an essential professional, and hero, if you are willing to receive it.

Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward was a Doctress of Medicine, as I like to say. Dr. Smith McKinney Steward’s medical areas of specialization were:

• Pediatrics
• Prenatal care
• Nutrition 
• Homeopathy

Whenever the public reminisces upon the accomplishments of a black woman physician that initially broke color barriers in medicine, Dr. Smith McKinney Steward is usually the first individual upon recollection.  I will refer to her as Dr. Susan throughout this blog article.

Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward spent her formative years in the historic neighborhood of Weeksville, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. In similarity with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, she was effectively forged and nurtured within the crucible of a large family, having a total of nine siblings. The McKinneys were no strangers to mettle and moxie; their industrious nature as a cohesive entity served them well; psychosocially and socioeconomically. Dr. Susan’s father was a wealthy pig farmer, and her eldest sister, Sarah, eventually became the first African-American woman to become a school principal in the NYC public school system.

Dr. Smith McKinney Steward initially completed a degree in the homeopathic sciences and graduated as valedictorian of her class prior to attending medical school. At that time, the gender lines for obtaining the elusive doctor of medicine degree were firmly drawn, even more so for women of color, and the practice of homeopathy was more accessible to women.

The similia similibus curentur, or “like cures like” doctrine of homeopathy served Dr. Susan well as she translated and cross referenced her alternative medical capabilities into allopathic medical treatments. Her substance dilution remedies were considered revolutionary in the palliation and cure of several pediatric ailments and diseases of infancy and childhood. Her adroitness in the treatment of malnutrition via homeopathy won her the respect of allopathic physicians and a fiercely loyal multiracial clientele along with a reputation that preceded her. It was an unheard of occurrence for a black woman doctor in demand without an M.D. to treat both black and white patients. Dr. Susan served the public with diligence and aplomb; becoming a woman of letters, wealth and substantial influence in the process, much like her predecessor, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.

A side note: The practice of homeopathy was conceptualized by German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, who has a medical school in the Keystone State of Pennsylvania named in his honor. It is founded upon the tenets that a substance that is pathogenic, or disease-causing, can also prove curative through a series of dilutions. It is this dilution method that Dr. Susan utilized in her pioneering treatment of burns and wounds. I understand that it is Women’s History Month, but this foreign male physician’s teachings assisted many women internationally in their goal of becoming competent healers, particularly when traditionally allopathic educational facilities barred their access to entry.

In addition to being adept in homeopathic sciences and a skilled physician, Dr. Susan was an educator, activist, social reformer, trained musician, suffragist and prolific writer, penning several papers about the suffragist movement, education, temperance, child labor, women’s rights, women of color, women physicians of color, public health, homeopathic medicine and the efficacy of soundly practiced pediatric and familial nutrition.

Some of her titled works of fame include:

Marasmus infantum, published in 1886.

The Treatment of Burns and Wound Healing, also a clinical and research specialization of my own.

Women in Medicine– A speech, turned paper, in which Dr. Susan advocated for the gender desegregation of medical schools to enhance equity in medical education.

And 

Colored American Women– A paper she delivered in 1911 at an early diversity, equity, and inclusion international event, the Universal Race Congress, which served to unite people globally and facilitate an informed discourse on improving relationships.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Dr. Susan successfully ran her own practice in Brooklyn from 1870 to 1895.

Dr. Smith McKinney Steward also established several institutions, including:

The Women’s Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary

The Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People

And 

The Women’s Hospital and Dispensary

An interesting fact about Dr. Susan’s sentimental, private life was that her second husband, Theophilus Gould Steward, was enlisted in the very first regiment of the United States Army’s Buffalo Soldiers.

But he was a chaplain, and NOT a dreadlock Rasta.

Nevertheless, he was a Buffalo Soldier.

Fighting on arrival.

Fighting for survival.

Dr. Susan served her nation by providing medical attention to the Buffalo Soldiers as the ultimate public health healer.

Dr. Susan and Chaplain Theophilus Steward created an amazing family of firsts, the Weeksville Brooklyn edition, in alignment with the Blackwells’ Bristol, British version.

In honor of Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward’s multitudinous contributions to medicine, public health and philanthropy, many institutions and schools are named after her. The former Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People now bears her name. There is the Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society, and a chapter of the National Medical Association named after her as well. Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward, our Brooklyn lady of medicine, public health and letters, passed away at the age of 71.

Thank you, Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward

#teamDrSusan 

#buffalosoldier 

Thank you to the New York Medical College.

Catch you on the inside of all things medical!

As to the opinion of people, 

I don’t care one straw about that honey!

Informed, culturally relevant content.

Custom-created and curated for an informed listener base.

For a more informed future.

Elementary my dear listeners.

I am Dr. Michelle K. Watson, innovator, producer, host, and creator of the EMD HIM Podcast Experience. Join me on this audio revolution for a new episode every month on all major podcast hosting platforms. 

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I thank you for allowing me to be of service to you.

This is Dr. Michelle K. Watson, signing off, wishing all of you a safe and equitable life journey.

Until we meet again.

For the next episode in this revolution.

Evolve safely.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Namaste.