Thelma “Byrd” Bowie, MD (1902-1985)

Dr. Bowie was one of two women admitted to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1925, the first year the school admitted female students, and earned her medical degree in 1929.

Dr. Bowie’s legacy is strongly tied to her two older sisters, Anna and Evangeline “Van” Bowie. Anna encouraged Byrd and Van to pursue medical degrees in an era when women typically did not go to college.

After graduating from VUSM, Byrd worked at Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and then served an internship at San Francisco’s Children’s Hospital. Following that, she returned to Nashville where she worked at Vanderbilt University Hospital.

In addition to the medical legacy left by the Bowie sisters, they were forward-thinking conservationists devoted to preserving nature and public land. In retirement, Anna, Byrd and Van bought hundreds of acres of land in rural Williamson County, which was deeded by Van to the City of Fairview, Tennessee, in 1988 and became Bowie Nature Park.