Name Florence Haseltine Role Novelist | Books Woman Doctor | |
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Florence Pat Haseltine (born 1942) is a U.S. physician, biophysicist, reproductive endocrinologist, journal editor, novelist, inventor, and advocate for women's health. She overcame severe dyslexia to build a diverse career in medicine. An associate professor at Yale University, her work specializes in obstetrics and gynecology as well as women's rights and gender bias in medicine.
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Education and career
Dr. Haseltine grew up in a family of scientists in China Lake, California. She and her siblings, William A. Haseltine, Eric Haseltine, and Susan Haseltine have all pursued careers in science and technology. She received her B.S. in physics/biophysics from University of California at Berkeley. She earned a Ph.D. in 1970 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. in 1972 at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her internship at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia and did her residency in medicine in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston Hospital for Women. She also served as assistant and associate professor in the Department of Ob/Gyn and Pediatrics at Yale University.
Throughout her education, she faced much gender bias. It was this that propelled her to write a book, Women Doctor, about her personal and professional experiences. This project, a team effort with professional writer Yvonne Yaw, led to the creation of a “fictionalized documentary called Woman Doctor being produced in 1976”. This book revealed the level of gender bias against women in the medical profession during the 1960s and 1970s.
From 1985 to 2012 she was the director of the Center for Population Research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. In 1990, she founded the Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research with other women who, like herself, were advocates for women's health through their work in federal programs or on academic campuses. She was interviewed for the Oral History Collection on Women in Medicine, currently archived at Drexel University, College of Medicine, Legacy Collection. She was the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Women's Health since 1992, and she edited the comprehensive report Women's Health Research: A Medical and Policy Primer published by the Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research 1997. Dr. Haseltine also founded Haseltine Systems,Inc in 1995, a company that designs products for people with disabilities. Haseltine Systems Incorporated’s mission is to improve the mobility of people using wheelchairs. Dr. Haseltine holds two patents for the Haseltine Flyer, a portable protective container for wheelchairs to be used on airplanes, to allow wheelchair users to travel more easily. Dr. Haseltine also holds multiple patents related to Secure Internet Communications. A woman of many talents, her career has focused primarily on obstetrics and gynecology, specifically reproductive endocrinology as well as women’s rights and gender bias in medicine and technological advances in her field. She is currently involved in the development of interactive websites and smart device websites that both inform the public about scientific and medical advances and also develop internal sites for networks of scientists. She began development of the iPad application titled “Human Genome”. The Human Genome App is designed so that a person can obtain information about a known gene or discover relationships between genes and diseases, syndromes or traits. In her Emerita status she works not for profit medical advocacy and research organizations, developing a public internet presence, e.g. the Global Virus Network.
Awards and recognition
Dr. Haseltine has been recognized for her contributions in the field of women's health & reproductive science by election to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). She is also a Weizmann Honored Scientist; a Kass Lecturer; a recipient of the American Woman's Medical Association Scientist Award; a recipient of The Kilby International Laureates Award; a Health Hero honoree of the American Health For Women Magazine; a Prevention Magazine "Hall of Fame" honoree; Ladies' Home Journal "Champions of Women's Health" honoree; the Advocacy Award from Research America for the Society for Women's Health Research; received the Barbara Eck Menning Founder's Award. She also received the UNFPA Lifetime Achievement Award in October, 2012. In 2013 she was awarded the Alma Dea Morani, M.D. Renaissance Woman Award. In 2015 she was elected as a fellow to the National Academy of Inventors.
Scientific sphere of influence
Dr. Haseltine was a mentor of Dr. Denise Faustman who is currently doing ground-breaking research on Type 1 Diabetes. Dr. Faustman specializes in diabetes mellitus type 1 (formerly called juvenile diabetes) and other autoimmune diseases.
She was a mentor to Dr Geoffrey M Cooper, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean of the Faculty at Boston University.
Dr. Haseltine and her husband Alan Chodos participated in the Student Action Coordinating Committee (SACC) and donated their papers and photographs to the National Museum of American History. Additional materials are achieved at Drexel University College of Medicine Legacy Center and at the Oral History Project from the Foundation for the History of Women in Medicine exhibit at the Countway Library.