Rosetta Sherwood Hall

Rosetta Sherwood Hall (1865–1951) was a pioneering medical missionary, educator, and social reformer. She was one of the first women to practice medicine in Korea and made significant contributions to the development of medical education and public health in the country.

Early life and education

Rosetta Sherwood was born in New York in 1865. She completed her B.A. degree at Oberlin College in 1887 and went on to earn her M.D. from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1890.

Career

In 1890, Hall moved to Korea as a medical missionary with the Methodist Episcopal Church. She established the Bogu Yeogwan, the first hospital for women in Korea, in 1893. She also founded the Trained Nurse School, the first nursing school in Korea, in 1903.

Hall was instrumental in promoting women's health and education in Korea. She introduced the concept of public health nursing and played a key role in the eradication of smallpox in the country.

Legacy

Hall's contributions to Korean society have been widely recognized. She was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation by the Korean government in 1962. The Rosetta Sherwood Hall Museum in Seoul is dedicated to her life and work.

See also

• List of medical missionaries
• History of medicine in Korea
• Women in medicine