Carolyn D. Palmer Unveils Bronze Statues of Pioneering Women at SUNY Upstate

Two larger-than-life bronze statues honoring pioneering women in American medicine now greet visitors at the entrance to SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. The works, created by Orange County native Carolyn D. Palmer, commemorate Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree in 1849, and Dr. Sarah Loguen Fraser, one of the country’s earliest African American women physicians and the first African American woman to graduate with a SUNY medical degree in 1876.

Each statue stands 6-foot-2-inch and weighs about 400 pounds. The pair were unveiled at a campus dedication held at the Weiskotten Hall entrance; one report gives the ceremony date as Oct. 23, while other coverage describes the pieces as recently unveiled and installed in the university’s entrance courtyard. The installation is explicitly tied to a broader commemoration of National Women Physicians Day, observed on Feb. 3 in honor of Dr. Blackwell’s birthday, and to the twin breakthroughs the project highlights: the admission of women into the medical profession and the inclusion of Black women in medical education.

Carolyn D. Palmer, born and raised in Chester, New York, was unanimously selected in a national competition to create the bronzes. Palmer’s résumé includes high-profile public commissions: a bronze statue of Frank Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey; larger-than-life bronze busts of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt installed at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park; a set of Roosevelt busts acquired by the New-York Historical Society and featured on an international tour; bronze busts installed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; and Wright Brothers busts acquired for the Sanford Orlando airport lobby. Her artist profile notes, "Carolyn’s sculptures now greet over 895,000 visitors each year."

Palmer described her artistic approach to subjects with limited visual references as a search for character as well as likeness. "I’m passionate about recreating the soulful depth of people through sculpting their various facial facets - that’s really my passion," Palmer said. She added, "When visual references are limited, I search for the soul behind them by studying their life stories. My goal is to sculpt not just their likeness, but their presence."

For readers in Orange County, Palmer’s involvement is a local-to-national story: a Chester native and Burke High School alumna who graduated cum laude from Nazareth College and who studied art internationally has returned cultural recognition to the region through a commission on the national stage. The sculptures also provide a visible teaching moment for SUNY Upstate students, staff, alumni, and visitors, connecting campus spaces to the long arc of women’s and Black women’s medical history.

The new bronzes strengthen SUNY Upstate’s public art landscape and open opportunities for programming around National Women Physicians Day and women in medicine. For Orange County residents, the installation is a reminder that local talent can shape national memory, and that public art continues to spark conversations about who is remembered and why.