Jennie Smillie Robertson

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Jennie Smillie Robertson (10 February 1878 – 26 February 1981) was a Canadian physician and the first female surgeon in Canada.

Born Jennie Smillie in Hensall, Ontario, she first became a teacher. She started saving so that she could attend Kingston’s Ontario Medical College for Women (which was absorbed into the University of Toronto’s medical school in 1906). She graduated in 1909 but no hospital in Toronto would take her for her residency so she had to attend Philadelphia's Women's Medical College. In 1911, she returned to Canada and was the first women in Canada to perform surgery. She was also the first woman to do major gynecological surgery in Canada.

She married Alex Robertson when she was 70.

[edit] References

• Builders and Pioneers. University of Toronto.
• "Dr. Jennie Smillie Robertson Woman surgeon was first to enter practice in Canada", The Globe and Mail, March 03, 1981.