The Dorothy Klenke Nash Lecture is a celebration of the first female neurosurgeon to practice in the United States, working at the University of Pittsburgh and local area hospitals from the 1940s through the 1960s.
A graduate of the Columbia College (N.Y.) of Physicians and Surgeons and the Neurologic Institute of New York, Dr. Nash moved to Pittsburgh in 1936 and later became a senior surgeon at St. Margaret's Hospital in 1942. Shortly thereafter, she joined Stuart Nile Rowe, MD—widely considered to be the founding figure of neurosurgery in Pittsburgh—at Presbyterian University Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
A big advocate of women in medicine, Dr. Nash actively encouraged women to pursue careers in the field, providing vocational lectures aimed toward female students at the University of Pittsburgh. She was also extensively involved in volunteer activities in a number of areas including cerebral palsy and mental illness. Read more about Dr. Nash.
In 2022, Martina Stippler, MD, gave the inaugural Dorothy Klenke Nash Lecture, presenting on the current state and future of women in neurosurgery.
(See also Honoring Dr. Dorothy Klenke Nash, first female neurosurgeon, with a call for more representation in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)
Past Nash Lecturers:
2024: Aviva Abosch, MD, PhD, University of Nebraska
2023: Karin Muraszko, MD, University of Michigan
2022: Martina Stippler, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center