Physician and Military Pioneer
Dr. Christine E. Haycock, a former resident and graduate of Nutley High
School, pioneered the path for women in the military, especially in medicine, by becoming, in 1952, the Army’s first woman intern at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. Dr. Haycock was also the first woman to transfer from the Army Nurse Corps to the Army Medical Corps, the first woman to hold a major command in New Jersey and the only the third woman in the United States to do so. Dr. Haycock served as commander of the Army’s 322nd General Hospital.
Born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and first raised in Richmond, Virginia, before moving to Nutley, she went from Nutley High School to the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago, and a medical degree at the State University of New York. Dr. Haycock also holds a master’s degree in political science from Rutgers University.
Dr. Haycock first served in the Army during World War II with the United States Cadet Nurse Corps. She extended her military career when she obtained her medical degree and began her internship at Walter Reed. After serving in the United States and Japan, she reverted to active Reserve status and ultimately retired as a colonel in 1984. She is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the United States Army War College.
Following her active military service, Dr. Haycock resumed her work as a surgeon at St. Barnabas Medical Center and at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Brooklyn. Returning to Newark, she began a private practice in general surgery.
Dr. Haycock is a diplomat of the American Board of Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. A leading expert in Sports Medicine and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, she has published widely in this field, particularly concerning women in sports. In 1982, she served as president of the American Medical Women’s Association, and is a past president of the New Jersey Medical Women’s Association.