(1830 – 1911)

A physician, hydrotherapist, proponent of natural hygiene, and one of the leaders of women’s rights and dress reform.

Susanna Way Dodds graduated from Russell Thacker Trall‘s New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College and became the fourth woman in the country to become a physician. Trained as a hydrotherapist, she was one of Dr. Trall’s most brilliant students. She was Vice President of the Vegetarian Society of America for many years.

Dodds and her sister-in-law, Mary Dodds, MD, opened the Dodds’ Hygeian Home facility. In their practice, they used only hygienic or natural methods of treatment. Women’s diseases and digestive disorders were their specialties; however, they also treated other chronic illnesses.

Susanna and Mary Dodds, MD, founded the Hygienic College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1887 in St. Louis, Missouri. The college was well-regarded by allopathic physicians who had lost faith in the primary use of drugs as an initial treatment plan. Instead, Susanna and Mary focused on natural methods of treatment: diet, exercise, massage, and hydrotherapy.

For 50 years, Dr. Susanna Dodds was head of the Dodds’ Hygeian Home in St. Louis, Missouri, Dean of the Hygienic College of Physicians and Surgeons, and one of the country’s most eminent hygienists. 

Dr. Susanna Dodds greatly influenced Natural Hygienist Herbert M. Shelton, a founding member of the modern-day Natural Hygiene Health Movement. This evolved into the National Health Association in 1999.

Quote

“According to nature’s teachings, living lengthens life and fills it with joy. Pursuing an opposite course shortens it and renders it miserable and worthless.”

Susanna Way Dodds, M.D. (1830-1911)
Excerpt From The Natural Hygiene Handbook

• Detailed Biography
• Timeline
• Publications
• References
• Excerpts