Making Rounds

How one young woman survived personal loss, sexism, and her own misogyny to become a trailblazer in academic medicine

In 1961, when Sharon Hostler enrolled in medical school, just 6 percent of physicians were women. Against these inauspicious odds, she succeeded not only in becoming a medical doctor—she rose to the very top of the medical profession.

Making Rounds is Hostler’s deeply personal reflection on a lifetime of remarkable experiences—from growing up in difficult circumstances in Vermont through the fascinating journey that ultimately brought her to the McLemore Birdsong Professorship of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia. Hostler vividly and honestly documents how she navigated professional opportunities, family responsibilities, personal loss and grief, and a sexist and elitist Southern medical culture. She offers unique insight into the social, political, and cultural factors that shaped UVA, Charlottesville, and academic medicine during the 1960s and 1970s. Enlivened by personal and professional insights into the ways that race, gender, and class shape people’s access to and experiences of health care, Hostler’s memoir will appeal to a wide variety of readers interested in the past, present, and future of women in medicine.