Who was Dr. Alfred Stille as noted in the nonfiction book, Witches, Midwives, and Nurses?

Dr. Alfred Stille was president of the American Medical Association in the 1870s. As such, he represents the epitome of the professional, male-dominated, middle-class, white healthcare industry in the United States. He therefore becomes a symbol of the professional institutionalization of the field which succeeded in pushing women and people of color out of the industry. This is demonstrated in his 1871 presidential address to the AMA in which he stated that women who seek to emulate men are "[aiming] toward a higher type than their own" (76). Through these words, his character represents the common misogynistic belief of the period that women and men belong in specific, ingrained, and fixed roles in society based on the allegedly "inherent" qualities of their gender.