Lila Stein Kroser, MD
Medical School: Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania
Specialty: Family Practice
Career Highlights:
Service with AMWA: President 1983-1984, Founder, Friends of the American Medical Women's Association (1977), President Branch 25 (Philadelphia), Chairman of Finance, Chairman of the Archives Committee, President, Medical Women's International Association (MWIA), Co-Chair Public Relations and Publicity for MWIA
Quote: I make a difference by wearing multiple hats—physician, wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, mentor, political activitist, and above all, patient advocate.
Biography:
Dr. Lila Stein Kroser was a solo-practice local family doctor in northeastern Philadelphia and a leader in national and international medicine. She was one of a few physicians to have held local, state, national, and international presidencies in organized medicine. She was a past president of both the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) and the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA).
Dr. Kroser was a cum laude graduate of Temple University, and graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1957, where she was the Lois Mattox Miller fellow in preventive medicine. Dr. Kroser was committed to organized medicine, the empowerment of women physicians, advocacy for women’s health issues, and the importance of good patient-physician relationships. She was the only physician featured in the book <i>America’s New Women Entrepreneurs</i>, and she also authored “The Growing Influence of Women in Medicine,” a chapter in <i>Future Practice Alternatives</i> published in 1993.
A fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Kroser founded Friends of the American Medical Women’s Association in 1977. In 1999, she was awarded the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, AMWA’s most prestigious honor, given to a female physician who has achieved recognition as a leader in women’s health, influenced the role of women in medicine, and made exceptional contributions to the image and empowerment of women in medicine.
Dr. Lila Stein Kroser also had the distinction of being the third woman in 150 years to become president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and was only the second woman to serve as president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians in that organization’s fifty-year history.
In addition to her private practice, Dr. Kroser was a Clinical Assistant Professor at Hahnemann School of Medicine (Medical College of Pennsylvania). She married family physician Dr. Al Kroser and had three children, two doctors and a lawyer.
Adapted from: National Library of Medicine Web site, Web page titled ” Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians: Dr. Lila Stein Kroser” accessed April 9,2012.
