Author Talk - The Trailblazing Life of Susan Dimock, MD

Join for an exciting Author Talk featuring a discussion on The Trailblazing Life of Susan Dimock, MD, with historian Susan Wilson. Learn about the remarkable journey of this pioneering doctor who broke gender barriers in the medical field. The event will take place on Sat. Mar 22 2025 at 1:00 PM at the West Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library. Don't miss this opportunity to be inspired and celebrate the achievements of a true trailblazer during Women's History Month!

Dimock’s life reads like an adventure story, from recoiling at slave auctions and witnessing Civil War battles to escaping her fire-engulfed Southern hometown, then finding her place among Boston’s most enterprising women.

She studied medicine in Zurich and Vienna, hiked the Swiss Alps, executed complex surgeries, and trained America’s first professional nurses, ultimately inspiring a new generation of female surgeons.

It’s no surprise that a prestigious Viennese medical professor, when asked for advice to aspiring young doctors, replied simply, “Make yourself to be like Miss Dimock.” This biography is the first to give Susan Dimock her rightful place in medical, women’s, and world history.

Susan Wilson is the official House Historian of the Omni Parker House in Boston, an Affiliate Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center of Brandeis Uni- versity, and an Honorary Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Host or Publisher The Friends of the West Roxbury Branch Library