Trailblazer in women’s health and gender issues pioneer
May Cohen graduated at the top of her class in 1955 at a time when fewer than ten percent of medical students in Canada were women. Upon graduation, she worked as a family physician in Toronto before joining the department of family medicine at McMaster University. At McMaster, Dr. Cohen focused her energy to improve the well-being of women patients and physicians. In 1991, she co-founded the first faculty of medicine’s Women’s Health Office, which later led to the creation of the Women’s Health Inter School Curriculum Committee for Ontario’s medical schools. Securing institutional recognition of women’s health issues has transformed the educational experience of all health students and has enhanced the status of women throughout Ontario and Canada.