Dr. Jean Dow was a surgeon in China for over thirty years. There, she did research into the organism which causes Kala-azar, a wasting disease which is prevalent in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Her work paved the way for the development of treatment for this illness, which previously had a fatality rate of 70%. Jean earned her medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1895. Later that year, she traveled to China, where she would spend the rest of her life. For twenty years, she was the only woman doctor at the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in Honan. Dr. Dow received a medal from the Chinese government for her service during the great famine of 1920. Seven years later, she died in Peking at the age of 57.
Sources: The Indomitable Lady Doctors pg. 124 from Canadian Women: Risktakers & Changemakers Women Inventors Project
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