In 1975, the first class graduated from the then just five-year-old SIU School of Medicine. To look at the class photo, two things stand out for those of us looking at it with a 2017 gaze: in this small class of 24 people, there is only one person of color, and not one is female. The 1976 class, the charter class of the school, was significantly larger. The class of ’76 saw 43 graduates. Among those 43, there were no minorities, and just five women: Cris Anderson, MD, Brenda Baumann, MD, Regina Kovach, MD, Kathleen Link, MD, and Mary (Witges) Bengtson, MD. The charter women of SIU School of