A proponent of women’s rights and equity, the late Dr. Deborah Ann Turner led a diversified career in the spheres of women’s health, voting rights and medical education. Retiring from medicine in 2022, she previously thrived as an associate medical director at Planned Parenthood of North Central States, where she began in 2016. Leading a medical career spanning more than three decades, Dr. Turner held faculty appointments at the University of Iowa, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska, specializing in gynecologic education. Impressively, she also practiced medicine as a board-certified gynecological oncologist at several facilities beginning in 1987, such as the Genesis Medical Center, the MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, and the MercyOne North Iowa Cancer Center in her hometown of Mason City, Iowa.
Lending her expertise to government and politics, Dr. Turner has concurrently served as the president of the League of Women Voters of the United States beginning in June 2020, where she remained until her death in January 2024. Impressively, Dr. Turner was elected the 20th president of the organization at its 54th National Convention. Over the course of her career, she also served the League of Women Voters as chairperson of the diversity, equity and inclusion committee and as a member of the finance and governance committee. Previously, she was a member of the Iowa Board of Regents and the Des Moines Metropolitan League, through which she leveraged her professional interests to affect policies on medicine, social justice and education.
Adjacent to her professional endeavors, Dr. Turner enjoyed giving back through nonprofit organizations, having worked extensively with The Outreach Program, a nonprofit that packages meals for hungry individuals across the globe. She also served as the vice president of international medical programs, through which she participated in medical missions to Tanzania.
As a testament to her resounding success in her industries, Dr. Turner was bestowed with a myriad of accolades. Featured in The Wall Street Journal on several occasions, Who’s Who in the World and Fortune Magazine, she was also honored with the Gertrude E. Rush Award from the National Bar Association in 2015 and the Louise Rosenfield Noun Visionary Award from the Young Women’s Resource Center in 2018. Inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013, Dr. Turner was particularly proud of accepting the Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award from the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, a nonprofit health organization that aims to cultivate deeper understanding between patients and their medical providers. Impressively, the award highlights a physician who has impacted the lives of their patients in a meaningful manner.
