Martha Jane Dixon Nelson

Martha Jane Dixon Nelson, M.D., 88 passed away quietly on Thursday, August 6, 2020 at Greenfield Estates Alzheimer's Special Care Center, Copley, Ohio.  She became a doctor long before it was common for women to enter the profession graduating from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1956. Her “take-charge” personality and “unflappable” style helped her break numerous glass ceilings long before the term was popularized, as she became a leader in her profession and her community.

She attended medical school when there were few openings for women in the male-dominated field. She was one of only two women in her graduating class. At various times, she faced direct and indirect sexism. In 1957 when she began her residency at Akron Children’s Hospital, the hospital offered her a nurse’s coat because “that’s what the women wore.” As the coats were distinctive to the professional role, she promptly refused the coat and told them to find her a doctor’s coat because “that’s what the doctors wore.”

She was the Summit County Health Commissioner from 1959 to her retirement in 1996.   At the time of her appointment she was the first women in this position and the youngest commissioner in the state.  She used her role to promote the health of Summit County residents in groundbreaking ways. She was an early promoter of school health programs and community-wide immunization campaigns. She was instrumental in the opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Akron, OH in the 1960’s when the organization was just beginning to promote expanded women’s health care. She served on the Board of Planned Parenthood of Summit, Portage and Medina Counties (now Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio) until her retirement.

She also served on the board of the Summit County Red Cross and was involved professionally with Summit County Developmental Disabilities, the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction, Mental Health Services Board, and the Summit/Akron Solid Waste Management Authority.   She held numerous leadership roles at the state and national level, including President of the Ohio Public Health Association, President of the Association of Ohio Public Health Commissioners, and served as member on the Governing Board of the American Public Health Association. At her retirement, she was the longest serving Ohio Health Commissioner.

She was recognized for her work numerous times throughout her career. She was awarded the Centennial Award by the Ohio Department of Health in 1986; the prestigious John D. Porterfield Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio Public Health Association in 1987; and two awards from Planned Parenthood of Summit, Portage and Medina Counties, including the Margaret Sanger Society Award in 1991.  Her legacy of service and care for the community prompted the Summit County Board of Health to name their clinic the Martha D. Nelson Public Health Clinic in recognition of her “38 years exemplary service to the citizens of Summit County.”

Survivors include her husband of 64 years, Roger Hilding Nelson; daughter, Jane Eleanor Nelson Hutchison (Anthony); granddaughters, Hannah Mae Hutchison and Emma Jane Hutchison; son, Mark Hilding Nelson (Ruth Gallagher); sister in law, Marcia Nelson Fix (John Robert); niece, Anne Fix Bowdler; nephew, Peter Fix; and cousins, Margaret Virginia Petersen and Jean Thompson.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date in October. Private inurnment will be in Bath Township’s Moore Chapel Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Martha D. Nelson’s memory, to either Westminster Presbyterian Church Brideweser Music Endowment Fund, 1250 W. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44313 or University of Pittsburgh Medical School Scholarship Fund, Forbes Tower Suite 8084, 3600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. https://secure.giveto.pitt.edu/give.php?appeal=MAA20W  

Services in care of Billow Funeral Homes and Crematory - Fairlawn Chapel  85 N. Miller Road  Akron, OH  44333

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