J. Sarah Braunwarth, MD
1853-1927
A Brief Biography
Sarah Braunwarth was destined to be a physician. Sarah's parents were German immigrants who instilled in their children a high regard for education. Medicine was highly esteemed in Germany and her parents brought this respect for medicine with them and passed it on to their offspring. It is no coincidence then, that of their seven children, five girls and two boys, three of their daughters graduated from coeducational medical schools and a fourth studied pharmacy.
3. Braunwarth family portrait
circa 1880
From lower left to right: J. Sarah, Emma, Louisa, Jacob, Anna.
From top left to right: Jessie, Charlie, Alice and William.
Courtesy of Alice Halstead Schmarje and James Halstead
Most of what we know about Sarah's experiences in the Medical Department at the State University of Iowa (the University of Iowa) has been gleaned from her clinical notes and journals. Her notes begin in December, 1874, during her second year in medical school. Her unflinching descriptions of amputations and procedures, and of medical treatments of ailments common to the time and place, such as tuberculosis, are a valuable record of medical practices of the era.
Upon graduation from the Iowa State Medical Department in the spring of 1876, Dr. Braunwarth set up a private practice in Muscatine, Iowa. She practiced medicine in Muscatine for fifty years before retiring in 1926. Dr. Braunwarth died in 1927 at the age of 74.
 4. Jacob Braunwarth
circa 1880
J. Sarah Braunwarth's father
Courtesy of Alice Halstead Schmarje
and James Halstead |
 5. Louisa Braunwarth
circa 1880
J. Sarah Braunwarth's mother
Courtesy of Alice Halstead Schmarje
and James Halstead |
 6. Photograph of display |
Braunwarth's response to an article addressing women in the medical profession.
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