Mary McMillan

Mary McMillan (deceased 1959) was a dedicated pioneer of physical therapy in the United States and abroad, the founding President of the American Physical Therapy Association, and an esteemed teacher. Ms. McMillan was born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, but grew up in England where she received her education from the College of Physical Culture in Liverpool and worked with children under the tutelage of Sir Robert Jones. In 1918, Ms. McMillan was assigned to Walter Reed Hospital as the head reconstruction aide and there founded the first organized physical therapy department in the U. S. Army. Ms. McMillan also taught at Reed College in Oregon, where the graduates of this and other emergency programs helped to handle the peak load of patients in 1919, immediately following World War I. In 1921, Ms. McMillan established and became the founding President (serving two terms) of the American Physiotherapy Association. At this time, Ms. McMillan wrote the first American textbook on physical therapy entitled Massage and Therapeutic Exercises.

In 1941, as soon as Ms. McMillan heard of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she volunteered her services at the Army Hospital in Manila and entered into her second World War. Ms. McMillan was later interned by the Japanese at the Santo Tomas Camp outside of Manila and was eventually moved to the Chapai Camp near Shanghai. In 1943, Mary McMillan was repatriated.

It would be hard to over estimate the contributions of this remarkable woman to physical therapy and to the American Physical Therapy Association. As the guiding spirit of the profession, Mary McMillan led the way toward higher standards in treatment and started physical therapists on the road toward greater professional service to their patients. As a testament of her devotion to the profession and belief in its future development, Mary McMillan made provision in her will for a trust fund "to provide scholarships for worthy students in the field of physical therapy."

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