AMWA Presents Dr. Krishnan with the Esther Pohl Lovejoy Award

The American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) will present Dr. Shobha Krishnan with the Esther Pohl Lovejoy Award at its Leadership Development Conference for Women Physicians. Each year, the AMWA Awards Ceremony recognizes leaders in medicine who have either advanced the field of medicine or the career development of women in medicine.

The award given to Dr. Krishnan‚ the Esther Pohl Lovejoy Award‚ was created in 1968 by the American Women’s Hospitals Service. This recognition was conceived to honor the name of Dr. Lovejoy and create a tribute in her name, because the directors of the American Women’s Hospitals Service felt that Esther Pohl Lovejoy was the outstanding example of great international humanitarian involvement of women physicians. It was decided that the Esther Pohl Lovejoy Award should be given to a woman physician who had demonstrated her interest and dedication to the promotion of international relations through improvement in international health.

About Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy
Esther Pohl Lovejoy (November 16, 1869—August 31, 1967) was an American physician and public health pioneer, suffrage activist, congressional candidate, and a central figure in early efforts to organize international medical relief work. In 1907, Lovejoy became the first woman appointed to direct a department of health in a major U.S city: the Board of Health in Portland, Oregon. Lovejoy worked on the women’s suffrage campaigns in Oregon in 1906 and 1912, and founded the Everybody’s Equal Suffrage League ahead of the 1912 election, when Oregon became the 7th state to grant women the right to vote. Lovejoy was among the founders of the Medical Women’s International Association and was elected as its first president in 1919.