Unbreakable Healer

The Remarkable Life of Dr. Mabel E. Elliott

By: G. L. Pedersen

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Bullets, Blizzards, and Bravery: Meet the Woman Who Defined Medical Heroism

“By some vagary of chance, she was fated to be always in the center of great events.” —Marie Leeds, Press of Atlantic City

For fans of The Doctors Blackwell and A Woman of No Importance comes the story of Dr. Mabel E. Elliott, who cared for thousands of Armenian and Greek refugees through bullets, blizzards, and deadly disease following World War I. She continued her overseas service in 1925 and practiced for 16 years in earthquake-ravaged Tokyo, revolutionizing healthcare for mothers and children.
As one of 14 children, Mabel Elliott’s journey across continents knew no borders. Sacrificing her medical practice in Michigan, Elliott ventured into the perilous lands of Turkey and Armenia in 1919 to aid disease-ridden and starving refugees following the Armenian Genocide. She ran head-on into the Turkish revolution, under siege at the Battle of Marash as she led thousands of Armenians across mountains in a blizzard. She continued her work in Ismid, Turkey, where once again Turks overran her hospital. In Armenia’s interior, she led the medical care of 40,000 Armenian orphans, thousands suffering from the blinding disease, trachoma. Duty called her to the Burning of Smyrna, where she set up hospitals across Greece to care for Greek and Armenian refugees fleeing the Turks. After a brief stint teaching, she was called to duty in Japan, following a devastating earthquake. There she served in Tokyo as a medical missionary, transforming pediatric care and saving thousands of children through nutrition, well-baby clinics, and other preventative measures.
Using family archives never before examined, professional correspondence, and news accounts, G.L. Pedersen chronicles Elliott’s story of bravery, perseverance, and humanitarianism. She highlights Elliott’s challenges in navigating the politics of relief work, where her quiet, engaging leadership threatened those in power. Betrayed by leaders who tried to silence her, Elliott told the story of her harrowing experiences across the United States in 1924 with her memoir Beginning Again at Ararat. Through detective work in publisher archives, Pedersen reveals a remarkable collaboration on her memoir that remained hidden for a century. Extensive research using letters, cablegrams, and diaries brings this overlooked woman’s thrilling story to life. Dr. Mabel Elliott accomplished what few women physicians have in the field of humanitarian service.