Pearl Jane Manson Sproule, MD (1879-1961) Canada's first woman otolaryngologist: a belated tribute

Pearl Jane Manson enrolled in the Ontario Medical College for Women in 1904 and graduated with an M.D. degree from the University of Toronto in 1907. She was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1911 and worked at a hospital in England during World War I. On returning to Toronto she held positions both at Toronto General Hospital and Women's College Hospital, where she became Chief of the ENT Department in 1926. She was keenly interested in epidemiology and the prevention of infections in women and children. In 1931 she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and also the American College of Surgeons. She was the first woman physician in Canada to become a specialist and gain recognition as a clinical scientist.