Ephraim McDowell is an American physician, who lived in Kentucky from 1802 to 1830. He was a native of Virginia, studied under Dr. Humphrey in Stauton, Virginia and polished his medical degree in the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He also studied with John Bell.

His house in Danville, Kentucky was made historic for being the site of the first successful removal of an ovarian tumor to be ever held in the whole world. It was done by Dr. McDowell in 1809 on Jane Todd Crawford. The tumor weighed 22.5 lbs, and the operation didn’t use any anesthetic or antisepsis but still left Miss Crawford without any complications.

The Ephraim McDowell House now operates as a historic house museum by the Kentucky Medical Association.