Physician and Medical Educator. As her elder sister Elizabeth did before her, Emily Blackwell would also choose a medical career. Blackwell began her studies in 1848 under Dr. John Davis, demonstrator of anatomy at the Medical College of Cincinnati, but would encounter difficulty gaining admission to a medical college on account of her gender. After refusal by eleven medical schools--including her sister's alma mater Geneva College--Emily Blackwell was able to enter Rush Medical College in Chicago. This success would be shortlived, however, when the trustees of the Rush found themselves under pressure to expel Emily from the medical college because of objections placed on her gender by the Illinois state medical board. Later able to complete her education at Western Reserve Medical School, Emily Blackwell would graduate in 1854 with highest honors, and would spend the next two years doing postgraduate work in Europe. In 1856 she returned to New York City where Elizabeth had previously established a dispensary to treat poor women and children. The Blackwell sisters, along with another Western Reserve graduate, Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, would expand the dispensary into a full-fledged hospital, the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, which is still extant today as Beth Israel Medical Center. A medical school for the education of female physicians was established a few years later, and Emily would serve as dean and professor of obstetrics and women's diseases there for thirty years. Known for its exceptionally high standards among medical schools in general, the Infirmary medical college would graduate dozens of students before shutting its doors in 1899 in response to Cornell University's acceptance of women into their medical college.