[1] Her father worked for the railroad, and later trained and practiced as a homeopathic physician; her mother was a schoolteacher, who died from tuberculosis when Ida was a small child.

[6][7] In 1918 she was one of the founders of the American Association of Hospital Social Workers, and was president of the organization for two terms.

She also worked with the Cambridge Anti-Tuberculosis Association and the Boston Society for the Relief & Control of Tuberculosis, and was a trustee of the Massachusetts State Infirmary at Tewksbury.

[3][8] In 1958, the Massachusetts Public Health Association presented the Lemuel Shattuck Award to Cannon, in recognition of her lifetime of service.

[1] Since 1971, the Ida M. Cannon Award has been given annually by the American Hospital Association's Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care.

[7][13] The School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh has a Cannon Fellowship Program named for Ida M.