Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder (December 9, 1870 - May 24, 1960) was a medical missionary to India and the founder of the Vellore Christian Medical Center in Vellore, India.
She was born of Dr. John Scudder II and Mrs. Sophia Weld Scudder, and was part of a long line of Scudders who were medical missionaries. She was invited by Dwight Moody to study at his Northfield Seminary, where she had a reputation for pranks.
While Ida had expressed a resolve not to become a medical missionary, she returned to India to help her father when her mother was sick. During that stay, in 1890, she had an extrordinary experience that convinced her that God wanted her to become a doctor and return to help the women of India.
She graduated from Cornell Medical College in 1899 as part of the first class at that school that accepted women as medical students. After graduating, she received a grant of $10000 from a Mr. Schell in memory of his wife. She opened a medical dispensary in Vellore in 1900 and opened the Mary Taber Schell Hospital in 1902.
In July, 1918 she opened a medical school for women, with 17 students. In 1928 ground was broken for the "Hillsite" medical school campus on 200 acres about 8 kilometers West of Vellore. She traveled a number of times to America to raise funds for the college and hospital, raising a total in the millions. In 1945 the college was opened to men as well as women. In [2003] the Vellore Christian Medical Center hospital was the largest Christian Hospital in the world, with 2000 beds, and the medical school was one of premier medical colleges in India.
Dr. Paul Brand, noted leprosy researcher, worked with Dr. Ida at Vellore.
Biographies include:
- Dr. Ida S. Scudder of Vellore, India by Dr. M. Pauline Jeffery 1950
- Dr. Ida by Dorothy Clarke Wilson 1959
- The Doctor Who Never Gave Up by Carolyn Scott 1975
- A Thousand Years In Thy Sight by Dorothy Jealous Scudder (1984) Chapters 25-27
- Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies Touching Heart by Janet Benge and Geoff Benge 2003
