Dr. Isabel Agnes Bradley was a nationally recognized woman in the field of psychiatry.
The daughter of a farmer, Bradley was born in Kent, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 1864, and attended schools there. She later went on to teach in the Kent public schools. However, after six years of teaching, her interests turned toward the medical field. She enrolled in a three-year program at Buchtel College (now The University of Akron) and then went on to the University of Michigan College of Medicine and graduated in 1899.
Her first job was as an assistant physician and pathologist at the Ohio State Hospital for the Insane where she worked until 1908. She briefly held a similar job at the Friends Hospital for the Insane in Philadelphia. In 1911 Bradley began practicing psychiatry in Akron, where she remained until transferring to the State Mental Hospital in Columbus in 1917. She worked in Columbus for 20 years until she retired in 1937. One of Bradley’s co-workers described her as “without a doubt the greatest woman physician in her field I have ever known.”
In 1931 Bradley took a 12-month leave of absence from her career and toured the world. While on this tour, she visited mental hospitals in Japan, China, India and Italy.
During her life, Bradley was a member of many prominent local and national organizations. She was involved in the Summit County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Society, the American-Medico-Psychological Association, the Medical Women’s National Association and the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Associations. She also served as president of the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1912-1913.
Bradley died on April 9, 1953 at the age of 89 in New Wilmington, Pa., where she lived after her retirement. She never married. Bradley’s grave is located in Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio.
–Janelle Baltputnis