Florence Nightingale
Founder of modern nursing
(1820 - 1910)

Biography by Lexie Van Den Heuvel

Article by Victoria Sweet

Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu

(1947 - )

Researcher on the care of sickle cell patients, and leader against racism in nursing and health care

Clara Barton

(1821 - 1912)

Battlefield nurse. Founder of the American Red Cross.

Mary Breckinridge

(1881 - 1965)

Founded the Frontier Nursing Service--bringing midwifery and infant health care to rural areas.

Dorothea Dix

(1802 - 1887)

Early nursing pioneer who revolutionized health care for the mentally ill.

Lystra Gretter

(1858 - 1951)

Promoted nursing as a respectable profession, shifted the model of nursing education from a one-year apprenticeship to a three-year academic pursuit, created nurse-run hospital wards, cut the work day to 8-hour shifts, wrote the first standardized textbook for nursing education, established an early visiting nurses association and created one of the first professional nursing libraries.

Lydia Hall

(1906 - 1969)

Pioneer in nursing autonomy and nurse-driven care.

Lydia Hall

(1906 - 1969)

Pioneer in nursing autonomy and nurse-driven care.

Florence Wald

(1917 -  2008)

Pioneer in improving the care of dying patients by managing symptoms, including patient and family in all decisions, and maintaining dignity and the highest quality of life as the developmental task of saying good-bye was addressed.

Joyce Hoyt Clifford

(1935 - 2011)

Pioneered the application of the primary nursing care model and led nursing care at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital for 25 years.

Vernice Doris Ferguson

(1928 - 2012)

Fought for greater respect and opportunities for nurses -- Long-serving chief nursing officer for the Veterans Administration.

Elizabeth Kenny

(1880-1952)

Polio rehabilitation pioneer

Also see a New York Times review on a book about her work

Margretta
Madden Styles

(1930 - 2005)

Nursing educator, worked to establish precise national standards to certify nurses in various specialties.

Margaret Sanger

(1883-1966)

Advocate for women's autonomy in childbirth

Elizabeth
Scanlan Trump

(1934/35 -  2012)

The first trauma nurse, co-founded University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center.