Elizabeth Jackson Macaulay

Elizabeth Jackson Macaulay, 1931

B.A., Denison University
M.D., Long Island University




Citation awarded June, 1996

Elizabeth “Betty” Macaulay developed a passion or medicine in a day when few women became physicians. On graduating from Denison, she worked for four years as a medical technician and found her desire for a medical degree undiminished. She enrolled in the Long Island College of Medicine, where she graduated with high honors in 1939.

Betty’s chosen field was pediatrics and she began a career of 50 years’ commitment to children’s health. After several years as assistant pediatrician and instructor in pediatrics at the Long Island College Hospital, she opened a private practice in San Francisco, where she had moved with her husband. She served as chairman of the department of pediatrics at Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame, California.

Throughout her busy medical career, Betty remained a devoted family woman. She and her late husband raised seven children, one of whom, Elizabeth Macaulay Killen, class of 1965, celebrates her 30th reunion at Denison this year.

Betty retired from medicine in 1989. Last spring, she was named to the 11th annual San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame, sponsored by the County Commission on the Status of Women and the county board of supervisors. Along with this honor she received certificates of recognition from two U.S. Congress members.

Formerly vice president of the class of 1931 at Denison, Betty continues to serve as reunion manager for her class.