On 12 May 1857, Zakrzewska co-founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, widely recognized as the first U.S. hospital staffed and run entirely by women.
On 12 May 1857, Maria Elizabeth Zakrzewska, together with Elizabeth Blackwell and Emily Blackwell, helped establish the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. Historical accounts describe the infirmary as the first hospital in the United States staffed and run entirely by women, a landmark achievement in a medical world that largely excluded women from clinical authority, hospital leadership, and even regular patient care opportunities.
The founding of the infirmary was more than an administrative act: it was a direct challenge to the gender barriers of mid-nineteenth-century medicine. At a time when women physicians were often denied access to internships, hospital appointments, and surgical experience, the infirmary created a space where women could practice, teach, and treat patients on their own terms. It also offered women patients the possibility of receiving care from female physicians in an era when many preferred or needed such care for social and cultural reasons. The institution became a model for later women-led medical organizations and helped prove that women could sustain a serious, service-oriented hospital practice. Zakrzewska’s role in this founding moment made her a central figure in the institutional history of women in medicine.