10 Immigrant Women Who Changed the Course of US History

We have Dr. Elizabeth Stern to thank for the cancer screenings included in our annual well-woman exams.

Stern was born in Canada but later immigrated to the US to attend medical school. She is best known for her groundbreaking research on cervical cancer. Before her time, the disease was almost certainly fatal; however, her work led to both the detection and successful treatment of the cancer.

In 1963, she discovered a link between herpes and cervical cancer, and she was also the first person to report a correlation between the prolonged use of oral contraceptives and cervical cancer.