black and white image of Dr. Bernadine Healy leaning up against the wall.

Photo: Cleveland Clinic Archives

Bernadine Healy, MD, was appointed Chairwoman of the Division of Research (renamed the Research Institute under her watch) in 1985. The widely respected cardiologist, researcher and women’s health advocate was the first woman to lead a Cleveland Clinic division. She later became the first female Director of the National Institutes of Health and the first physician to lead the American Red Cross. “When British women were trying to win the right to vote … [t]hey broke windows in Parliament Square,” Dr. Healy once wrote. “Although I am not advocating that American women resort to such behaviors — or even the breaking of test tubes — it is clear that all of us in the scientific community have a lot of breaking to do — especially old rules, self-defeating habits and glass ceilings.”