The first woman admitted to Harvard Medical School wasn't even from the U.S.

A filipina woman named Fe del Mundo received an offer from the president of the Philippines for a full scholarship to attend any medical in the United States after graduating as valedictorian from the University of the Philippines in 1933. She decided to attend Harvard Medical School in 1936, even though HMS wasn't admitting women at the time. Harvard only started officially accepting women to the medical school in 1945. Harvard was surprised to find that they admitted a woman to their all-male institution but they kept her because of her strong credentials. She even had to stay in a men's dorm!



Fe del Mundo would later go on to found the Fe del Mundo Medical Center, the first children's hospital in the Philippines. She passed away 2 weeks ago at the age of 99.

(source)