Elizabeth B. Connell papers

Elizabeth B. Connell (1925-2018), A.B., 1947, and M.D., 1951, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, was professor emerita of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and a guest researcher in the Center for Health Promotion and Education at the Centers for Disease Control.

Elizabeth B. (Bishop) Connell was born in 1925 in Springfield, Massachusetts. She attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, receiving her A.B. in 1947 and her M.D. in 1951. Connell interned at the Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1951-1952 and completed a residency in pathology and anesthesia between 1952-1953.

In 1958, Connell moved to Blue Hill, Maine, with her first husband, John Connell, to work in a general practice based around a small rural hospital. Connell later said that this was where she first became acutely aware of the health issues that particularly affected her female patients, including conception and fertility.

Connell and her family moved back to Philadelphia so she could pursue further medical training, including a residency in gynecology. In 1960, Connell moved from Philadelphia to New York in order to take an obstetrics residency at Mount Sinai Hospital. After completing her residency in 1961, Connell received an American Cancer Fellowship which allowed her to gain experience in performing radical cancer surgeries. During the same period, she worked on opening family planning clinics in the Spanish Harlem area of New York City.

In 1962, she was appointed associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York Medical College, a position she held until 1969. She was also director of the Family Planning Center run between the New York Medical College and the Metropolitan Hospital Medical Center from 1964-1969.

In 1970, Connell was appointed Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in charge of family planning at Columbia University/Presbyterian Hospital. At the same time, she held a position as clinical consultant on family planning activities with the Department of Health.

In 1973, Connell took a position at the Rockefeller Foundation; she stayed at the Foundation for five years working on grant distribution. In the same year, she was the first woman to chair a Food and Drug Administration panel; after 1973, she served as chair or member of numerous FDA advisory panels, including on breast implant safety (1991-1992) and an obstetrics and gynecology devices panel (1988-1992).

In 1981, Connell moved to the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, taking a position as professor in the department of gynecology and obstetrics. She held that position until 1997 when she was named a professor emerita.

Connell held positions on many advisory boards and committees including for Planned Parenthood, the Food and Drug Administration, the New York City Department of Health, and the Human Resources Administration. She was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American College of Surgeons, the American Public Health Association, the American Fertility Society, the American Medical Women’s Association, the Medical Women’s International Association, the Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of Health.

Connell married her first husband, John Thomas Connell, in 1949. The couple had six children: Robert (1953), Thomas (1954), Richard (1955), David (1959), James (1961), and Patricia (1963). Connell and her first husband later separated and she married Howard J. Tatum, M.D. Tatum was the inventor of an intrauterine device prototype, the “Tatum T,” one of the original IUD designs. Tatum died in 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia. Connell died of congestive heart failure on 20 August 2018 in Framingham, Mass.