Ellis and her friend Romania graduated with high honors.  Romania went on to specialize in diseases of the eye and is credited with performing the first cataract operation in Utah.

When the two arrived back in Zion, they found another female physician on the scene, Dr. Ellen Ferguson, who had moved to Utah after having practiced in London, Paris and elsewhere in the United States.  She was a competent physician, and highly regarded for her expertise in treatment of the nose, throat, lungs and heart.

It was Dr. Ferguson, most historians claim, who first suggested a Mormon community medical facility – the center that was to become known as Deseret Hospital.