Bernadine Healy was born on 2 August 1944 in New York City, New York, USA. She was married to Dr. Floyd D. Loop and Dr. Gregory B. Bulkley. She died on 6 August 2011 in Gates Mills, Ohio, USA.
She excelled in academics. She was the top student of her high school
class at Hunter College High School. She then attended Vassar College
and graduated summa cum laude with a major in chemistry and a minor in
philosophy in 1965. She was one of only ten women out of 120 students
in her Harvard Medical School class. In 1970, she graduated with her
M.D. cum laude. She completed postgraduate work at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was a member of the Hopkins faculty from 1976 to 1984.