RAUSCHKOLB, RUTH (ROBISHAW), M.D. (24 Nov. 1900-13 Jan. 1981), dermatologist, was the first (and as of 1994, the only) woman president of the CLEVELAND MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION (1968), the first woman president of the Cleveland Dermatologic Society, and among the first women to teach at the CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY Medical School and to intern at City Hospital (see CUYAHOGA COUNTY HOSPITAL SYSTEM).
Rauschkolb was born in Cleveland; her father, a steelworker, died when she was a child. She graduated as valedictorian from East High School, received a B.A. from Ohio State University (1921) as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated at the top of her class from the medical school of Western Reserve University (WRU, 1923). She later studied dermatology at the CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION, at Bellevue Hospital in New York, and elsewhere.
After a brief internship at City Hospital, Rauschkolb could not obtain a residency there due to her age and her gender. She opened her own practice and after her marriage, entered into dermatology practice with her husband. (She practiced under both her married and maiden names.) After his death in 1954, Rauschkolb continued the practice. She began her teaching career as a demonstrator in pediatrics at WRU (1924-29) and taught there continuously from 1943 until retiring as Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology in 1978. She headed both the dermatology division (1956-65) and the diabetes clinic (1952-54) at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, served as both a staff physician (1954-64) and a trustee of FOREST CITY HOSPITAL, and was clinical physician and a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Maternal Health Association (later PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER CLEVELAND) at its inception (1928). She also helped organize and was a charter member of the Cleveland Diabetes Association.
Rauschkolb lived in SHAKER HEIGHTS after her marriage to John E. Rauschkolb, M.D. (d. 1954); their two daughters, Elizabeth (Mrs. Gordon) Farrell and Diana Bogdonoff both practiced dermatology. Rauschkolb is buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.