Dr. Ethel Walker, beloved pediatrician practiced medicine in Nashville for over 49 years and was known to have seen over 11,000 patients during that time span. She was born May 21, 1909 in Davidson County, Tennessee daughter of Bradley Walker and Ethel Matthews Walker. She received a bachelors degree from Vassar College in 1931 and an M.D. from Vanderbilt in 1936. She was the recipient of the Founders Medal being the first woman to receive that distinction at Vanderbilt. She completed an internship in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University in 1937, as well as a residency in pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine in 1938. She returned to Johns Hopkins in 1938 to serve a residency in pediatrics, and following completion in 1941 she served as Dispensary Chief at Johns Hopkins. In 1943, she returned to Nashville to establish her private practice where she worked continuously until her retirement in 1991. She remained in close contact with Vanderbilt serving on the clinical staff and faculty beginning in 1943. She died September 29, 1992 in Nashville.