Doris Howell

1924-2019

Doris Howell received a BA from Park College in Parkville, Missouri in 1944 and an MD from McGill University in 1949. After completing her Internship in Pediatrics at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Montreal, Canada, she came to Duke University School of Medicine in 1951 as Senior Assistant Resident in Pediatrics. In 1952, she was completing her Research Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Harvard Medical School.

She returned to Duke in 1955 and served on the faculty as a Pediatric Hematologist working with pediatric cancer patients until 1963 when she left to become the first woman to hold a full-time Pediatric Department Chair position at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. in 1970, Dr. Howell was the first female to receive the Distinguished Duke Medical Alumni Award. She later served as a Department Chair (Pediatrics and Family Medicine) in two other medical schools.

Dr. Howell, known by many as the “mother of hospice,” was a pioneer in the hospice and palliative care movement, embracing a supportive end-of-life environment for dying patients and their families. She had served on the Hospice Board of Directors since its inception and was instrumental in founding the San Diego Hospice and Palliative Care Center in 1976 for adult and pediatric patients. in 1989, she was named Director Emerita of the Center.

After retiring, Dr. Howell focused on female health care advocacy by establishing the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Research in Women’s Health, which gave research grants to scholars in the area of women’s healthcare and research. She received numerous awards during her career, including the Salvation Army Woman of Distinction Award, Humanism Award from the Health Care Foundation of New Jersey, and awards for leadership and service from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Howell died November 23, 2019 at the age of 94.

Interview

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Doris Howell on November 12, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.

Interview Transcript