Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842-1906) was a physician who debunked some of her era’s most common menstruation myths, including the idea that physical activity during menstruation was dangerous. Her paper, "The Question of Rest for Women during Menstruation," used in depth research to provide  irrefutable proof of the stability of a woman's health throughout her monthly cycle. This paper earned Jacobi Harvard’s coveted Boylston Prize.

Jacobi graduated from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1964 and was the first woman to study at the New York Academy of Medicine.

At the time Jacobi was practicing, men in medicine claimed that a medical education would make women physically ill, and that female physicians endangered their profession. 

Dr. Jacobi advocated for better medical education for women and created the Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of Women in 1872 to address the inequality in medical education opportunities between men  and women.  Jacobi advocated for coeducation for medical students, noting that existing women’s medical schools could not provide the same clinical experience as major hospitals.

Over the course of her career, Jacobi authored more than 120 scientific articles and nine books, and remained a staunch advocate of women’s right to seek medical education and training.