Ruth Jackson

Ruth Jackson (December 13, 1902 – August 28, 1994) was the first female board-certified orthopedic surgeon in the United States and the first female admitted to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Life and death Ruth Jackson was born on a farm near Scranton, Iowa and moved to Dallas, Texas at age 14. Jackson married, but divorced after 2 years so she could concentrate on her work. She died in the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas in 1994 at the age of 91. Education and career Upon completing high school, Jackson told her parents she was planning to take premedical instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, but her father disapproved so she became a sociology major. She changed her major to premedicine before graduating in 1924 when she learned a father was unable to support his family because of a bad knee. Jackson was then motivated to learn how to prevent instances like that in the future.