Ida was born to John Scudder and Sophia (née Weld), part of a line of medical missionaries that started with her grandfather,
John Scudder Sr. They were members of the
Reformed Church in America. Growing up as a child in India, she witnessed famine, poverty and disease. She was invited by
Dwight Moody to study at his
Northfield Seminary in
Massachusetts, where she earned a reputation for pranks.[1] In 1890, she returned to India to help her father when her mother was ailing at the mission bungalow at
Tindivanam in the
Madras Province. During her stay, she witnessed three women die in childbirth in one night and resolved to go into medicine.[4]
Scudder graduated from
Cornell Medical College, New York City in 1899, as part of the first class that accepted women as medical students. She then headed back to India and started a tiny medical dispensary and clinic for women at Vellore, 75 miles from Madras. Her father died in 1900, soon after she arrived in India. In two years, she treated 5,000 patients.[4]
Christian Medical College, Vellore
Scudder opened the Mary Taber Schell Hospital in 1902.[5] She decided to open a medical school for girls only and received 151 applications the first year (1918) and had to turn many away subsequently.[4]
In 1928, ground was broken for the "Hillsite" medical school campus on 200 acres (0.8 km2) at Bagayam, Vellore. In 1928,
Mahatma Gandhi visited the medical school. Scudder traveled a number of times to the
United States to raise funds for the college and hospital. In 1945, the college was opened to men as well as women. In 2003 the
Vellore Christian Medical Center was the largest
Christian hospital in the world, with 2000 beds, and its medical school is now one of the premier medical colleges in India.[6] In 2023, the center was ranked number 3 college by the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF).[7]
In 2019, the American Heritage Girls announced that she would be replacing Lewis and Clark as the Explorer Level Award namesake in their 2020 Handbook[14][15]
A commemorative stamp was released by the
Department of Posts on August 12, 2000, as part of the centenary celebrations of the Christian Medical College. The
First-day cover portrays Dr Ida Scudder[16]
^Biographical information on ISS and the Scudder family, see the inventory for Ida Sophia Scudder, MC 205, Scudder, Ida S. 1870-1960. Papers, 1843-1976 (inclusive), 1888-1960 (bulk) (84-M159) Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College, February 1985
Ida Scudder papersArchived 2012-02-14 at
archive.today
^Notable American Women, The Modern Period (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984).