| Susanna Way Dodds | |
| Birth Date: | 10 November 1830 |
| Birth Place: | Randolph County, Indiana, United States |
| Death Place: | Long Beach, California, United States |
| Occupation: | Physician, writer |
Susanna Way Dodds (November 10, 1830 – January 20, 1911) was an American physician, hydrotherapist and natural hygiene proponent.
Dodds was born in Randolph County, near Richmond, Indiana.[1] She was a vegetarian and advocate of women's rights.[2] Dodds was the fourth woman in America to become a physician.[2] In 1864, she graduated from Russell T. Trall's New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College.[2] Dodds practiced medicine in St. Louis from 1886-1909.[3]
Dodds' sister-in-law Mary was also a physician. Dodds and her husband Andrew espoused a hygienic method of treating disease.[4] In 1878, Dodds and her sister opened a sanitarium, the Dodds' Hygeian Home.[4] [5] In 1887, they established the Hygienic College of Physicians and Surgeons in St. Louis, Missouri.[2] [4] They did not use any drugs except in cases for relieving pain.[6] They focused on "natural methods of treatment: diet, exercise, massage, electricity and hydrotherapy in all of its manifold applications".[4] Dodds proposed a strict hygienic vegetarian diet which forbid the consumption of baking powder, meat, milk, soda, spices and sweeteners.[4] She published the magazine, The Sanitarian.[7]
Dodds was Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society of America.[8] Natural hygienist Herbert M. Shelton was influenced by Dodds.[4]
Dodds died on January 20, 1911, from senile debility at Long Beach, California.[9] After Dodds died in 1911, her sister continued to manage the Hygienic College until she sold it in 1912.[4]