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A native Philadelphian, Dr. Macfarlane did her pre-med work at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1898. She immediately joined the faculty of the College and was appointed to Professor of Gynecology in 1922. From the time of her graduate studies and early fellowships, she became interested in cancer research and treatment. Dr. Macfarlane was instrumental in developing breast self-examination for women and, in 1903, was the first person to use radium for cancer treatment in Philadelphia. Her greatest achievement came in 1938 when Dr. Macfarlane began her five-year landmark study of the value of periodic examinations of women to determine the possibility of early detection of uterine cancer.
Catharine Macfarlane was honored repeatedly, but she is most noted as the first woman to be elected to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; for her presidency of the Philadelphia Division of the American Cancer Society and the American Medical Women’s Association; her leadership role in the Medical Women’s International Association; and her role in organizing the first Cancer Prevention Clinic in Philadelphia. Fondly known in the Woman’s Med community as “Kitty Mac,” she devoted her later years to fundraising for the College.