Ms. Dock joined her Ms. Robb at Johns Hopkins Training School for Nurses. She was an innovative and dedicated educator, and supported the Ms. Robb made at the training school. She worked with her colleagues to start the first National League for Nurses.
Lavinia Dock was an outspoken advocate of Women's Rights. Perhaps her courageous stand for Women's Suffrage and Women's Rights was her greatest contribution to nursing. She realized that if nursing was going to be the profession that the early leaders envisioned nurses would need power and respect that only gender equality could bring.
She is quoted in the NLN publication Open Minded (1996):
"We owe the existence of our profession to the Women's Movement;
We owe it all that we are,
All that we have of opportunity and Advancement."