Celebrating Women's History Month 2025

The theme for Women’s History Month 2025 is, “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations.” In commemoration of this milestone, the National Women’s History Alliance states, “From classrooms to boardrooms, and from grassroots movements to global initiatives, women educators and leaders have played a pivotal role in nurturing minds and inspiring transformative action.”

The mid-19^th century saw several watershed events that facilitated the entry of women into medicine. The first medical school for women in the United States, the Boston Female Medical College, opened in 1848 with 12 students. One year later, Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from the theretofore all-male Geneva Medical College, becoming the country’s first female medical school graduate. In 1860, Boston Female Medical College, since renamed the New England Medical College, also became the first US medical school to admit a Black woman, Rebecca Crumpler.

Almost two centuries after these accomplishments, women have now constituted the majority of medical school applicants and matriculants for the past six years. This progress is a testament to the positive examples of mentorship, leadership and professional service in the field, which have collectively demonstrated that academic medicine, and the healthcare industry more broadly, are areas where all medical professionals can excel.

In addition to our storied past, we also acknowledge the present and future. This month, we also commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8. International Women’s Day 2025 promotes the theme of “Accelerate Action.” This theme “calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres,” and further adds, “For some, IWD is about fighting for women's rights. For others, IWD is about reinforcing key commitments, while for some IWD is about celebrating success. And for others, IWD means festive gatherings and parties. Whatever choices are made, all choices matter and all choices are valid.”

As we commemorate Women’s History Month, International Women’s Day and the overall contributions to inclusive excellence throughout our university, please take a moment to learn about several faculty colleagues from throughout our campus community who are educating and inspiring generations of students and scholars.

UCI News: Profiles of Excellence

Lastly, as you consider how you can accelerate action in your respective sphere of the School of Medicine, and how to educate and inspire generations to move forward together, please make use of several resources throughout the field of academic medicine and the UC Irvine community:

• Office of Inclusive Excellence: Women’s History Month Resources
• UC Irvine Libraries: Women’s History Collections
• UC Irvine Womxn’s Center for Success: Womxn’s Month 2025 Calendar
• Academic and Professional Women at UC Irvine
• AAMC: Timeline of Women in Medicine
• AMA Catalog of Topics: Women’s Health
• American Medical Women’s Association