March is Women’s History Month and this blog post explores the career of Dr. Marion Hotopp (1900-1976). 

Born in New Jersey, Hotopp graduated from Cornell in 1934 with her MD and later received a master’s degree in public health from Harvard. After graduation, she completed an internship at the Medical Center of Jersey City and residencies at three hospitals. Following these experiences, Hotopp moved to New Mexico during the 1940s after accepting the position of director of the Maternal and Child Health Division of the New Mexico Department of Health. She was one of eight founding members of the New Mexico Pediatric Society, which was created in 1945. 

Based in Santa Fe, Dr. Hotopp significantly improved infant mortality rates and maternal health by stressing the importance of breastfeeding and nutrition for mothers. In particular, she recommended pregnant women supplement their diets with pinto beans for extra protein and rosehips for additional vitamin C. 

She received several grants during her long career in New Mexico, including a 1958 grant from the National Institute of Health that resulted in the project “Changing Public Health Approaches in Work with Spanish-Americans.” This project explored communication between primarily English-speaking health workers and Spanish-speaking residents in rural New Mexico. The work also involved collecting information about community health beliefs and later focused on nurse-patient communications. This research produced the publication Nurse-Patient Communication: A Manual for Public Health Nurses in Northern New Mexico. 

After her 1967 retirement from the New Mexico Department of Health, Dr. Hotopp did medical work in Central America. She passed away in 1976. 

Sources in Special Collections related to Dr. Hotopp’s career include: