Katharine Krom Merritt

Katharine Krom Merritt was the daughter of Schuler Merritt, a congressman for many years, and the former Frances Hoyt. She graduated from Vassar College in 1908 and from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1917. She then served a one-year internship at St. Louis Children's Hospital in 1918-1919. Katharine Krom Merritt, Martha May Eliot (1891-1978) and Mary A. Wright were the first female interns at the hospital. All three received their medical degrees from Johns Hopkins Medical School, but had to seek internships elsewhere since Johns Hopkins did not allow female interns at that time.

After her internship in St. Louis, Merritt returned to the East Coast, operating a private paediatric practice in New York City from 1920 to 1933. She was an associate attending paediatrician at Babies Hospital of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, a lecturer at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and an attending paediatrician at the Vanderbilt Clinic, all in Manhattan. She also served as a consultant to the medical staff of Stamford Hospital.

With her sister, Louise Dalton, who died in 1956, Merritt founded the Stamford branch of Family and Children's Service.