This is a list of the first qualified female physician to practice in each country, where that is known. Many, if not all, countries have had female physicians since time immemorial; however, modern systems of qualification have often commenced as male only, whether de facto or de jure. This lists the first women physicians in modern countries. The dates given in parentheses below are the dates the women graduated from medical school.
Africa CountryPhysicianYear graduated medical schoolYear began practiceAldjia Noureddine-Benallègue19461946Melba Dias Costa1950Solange Faladé1955Nolwandle Nozipo Mashalaba1965Bibiane KoneMarcelline Ntakibirora19821983Gladys Ejomi1962Maria Francisca de Oliveira SousaGrace KodindoRICH, Jeremy. "Grace Kodindo". In: AKYEAMPONG, Emmanuel K.; GATES JR., Henry Louis (right). Dictionary of African Biography . Oxford University Press, 2012, v. 3, p. 406-407.1977Zaitouni AbdouLouise Celia Fleming18951895Hilana SedarousPeseshet (ancient Egypt)19301930Margarita Roka EloboFanny FriedmanWidad Kidanemariamc. 1960sKinneh Sogur2007Susan Ofori-Atta19491949Christiane Welffens-Ekrac. 1975Mary de Sousa1919Bertha Hardegger (born in Switzerland)1937Florence Gbeye D. McClain1962Younes Qwaider1969Marthe Ramiaramanana-Ralivao1950Vida Mungwira (the country was then known as Nyasaland)19611962Diaka Diawara SackoNusaiba Abdel-Qader and Meimouna mint Mohamed Lemine20152015Sajeda Vayid1965Françoise Legey (born in France)19001909Libertina Amathila19691969Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi19381938Yvonne Obengac. 1970sJulieta da Graça do Espírito Santo1955Marie-Thérèse Basse19571958Hilda Stevenson-Delhomme1939Irene IghodaroThe Black Handbook: The People, History and Politics of Africa and the ...1945Hawa Abdi19711971Jane Elizabeth Waterston1880Khalida Zahir19521952Zarouhi Sarkissian1952Esther Mwaikambo19691969Tewhida Ben Sheikh19361936Josephine Nambooze19591962Elwyn Chomba1973Madeline Nyamwanza-Makonese19701970
Americas CountryPhysicianYear graduated medical schoolYear began practiceRuby Lake-Richards19541954Cecilia Grierson18891889Merceline Dahl-Regisc. 1960sAmelia Chopitea Villa19261929Marie Durocher18341834Canadian licenses granted in 1880.Emily Stowe1867
18751867
1875Jennie Kidd Trout18751875Eloísa Díaz18861887Ana Galvis Hotz18771877Anita Figueredo (lived in the U.S.)1936Laura Martínez de Carvajal18891889Sarah Loguen Fraser1884Matilde Hidalgo19211921Estela Gavidia19451945María Isabel Escobar19421946Asin Ho A Shoo (Hoashoo)19121912Yvonne Sylvain19401940Martha Raudales de Midence19471947Cicely Williams19231923Matilde Montoya18871887Concepción Palacios Herrera19271928Lidia Gertrudis Sogandares19341936Gabriela Valenzuela and Froilana Mereles1924Laura Esther Rodriguez Dulanto18991900Jean Lenore HarneyBetty Bennet Wells1939Sophie Redmond19351935Stella Abidh1930Elizabeth Blackwell (born in England)18491851Paulina Luisi19081909Lya Imber19361936
Asia CountryPhysicianYear graduated medical schoolYear began practiceMaghul M. Ali19571957Sona Valikhan19081908Sadeeqa Ali Al-Awadi1969Zohra Begum Kazi1935Datin Paduka Dr Hjh IntanKek Galabru19681968Kin Yamei18851885 Anandi Gopal Joshi / Kadambini Ganguly1886Marie Thomas19121922Sakineh Peri1934Anna Sethian1922Ogino Ginko18821885Nirmen Totanji19531953 Esther Park (Kim Jeom-dong) 1900Kakish Ryskulovna Ryskulova19441944Eleanor Jane Taylor Calverley (born in the U.S.)19081911Anisa Saibac. 1890sc. 1890sSalma Ismail19471947 V. Ichinkhorloo1947Daw Saw Sa1912Jamila Sen18971899Zakiyyah Bint Salem Bin Seif Al Me'man1944Khabzam Iqbalc. 1983Honoria Acosta-Sison19091909Nawal Jamal Al-LailLee Choo Neo19191919May Ratnayake19161916Sabat Islambouli18901890Tsai Ah-hsin19211925Sofya Khafizovna Khakimova19431943Margaret Lin Xavier19241924Zulekha Daoud1963Zulfiya Ibragimovna UmidovaБольшая Медицинская Энциклопедия (БМЭ), под редакцией Петровского Б.В., 3-е издание19221922Henriette Bùi Quang Chiêu1934Claudie Fayein (born in France)1955 Nepal: Bethel Fleming (born in the United States) is considered the first Western female physician to practice in the country.
Europe CountryPhysicianYear graduatedmedical schoolYear beganpractice Xhanfize (Frashëri) Basha1937Vergine G. Mikaelyan1927Gabriele Possanner18971897Salome Regina RusetskayaIsala Van Diest18791879Teodora Krajewskac. 1897Anastasia Golovina18781878Karola Maier Milobar19001906Maria Michaelides19271927Anna Honzáková19021902Nielsine Nielsen18861889Selma Feldbach1904Rosina Heikel18781878Madeleine Brès18751875Pelagia Natsvlishvili18781878Dorothea ErxlebenSchiebinger, L. (1990): "The Anatomy of Difference: Race and Sex in Eighteenth-Century Science", pg. 399, Eighteenth Century Studies 23(3) pgs. 387-405She was however an exception. Emilie Lehmus and Franziska Tiburtius became the first women physicians after Germany allowed women to become medical doctors in 1899, and Ida Democh-Maurmeier became the first licensed woman doctor in Germany in 1901. 17541754 Maria KalapothakesAgnodice was a 4th century BCE physician before modern Greece.18941894Vilma HugonnaiIván Völgyes, Nancy Völgyes, The liberated female: life, work, and sex in socialist Hungary, Westview Press, 1977, p. 918791897Kristín Ólafsdóttir19171918Eleanora Fleury18901890Dorotea Buccapre-1390Gulsum Asfendiyarova and Zeinep Sadykovna.1908Marija Vecrumba19111911Barbora Burbaitė-Eidukevičienė18921900Louise Welter19241924Blanche Huber19251925Maria Baltaga-Savitski1879Divna Veković1940sAletta Jacobs18791879Suncica Apostolova1953Marie Spångberg Holth18931893Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska18771877Elisa Augusta da Conceição Andrade18891889Maria Cuțarida-Crătunescu18841891Nadezhda Suslova18671868Draga Ljočić18791881Mária Bellová1910Eleonora Jenko Groyer1907Dolors Aleu i Riera18791882Lovisa ÅhrbergNever educated;certified 1850s1840Marie Heim-Vögtlin18741874Safiye Ali1922Sofia Okunevska18941897Elizabeth Garrett Anderson18621865
Oceania CountryPhysicianYear graduatedmedical schoolYear beganpracticeConstance Stone1890Kanta Madovji1968Terenganuea Taaram (then known as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony)before 1974Ulai Otobed1965Emily Siedeberg18961905Joan Refshauge1947Viopapa Annandale-Atherton1964Junilyn Pikacha19781981'Akanesi Makakaufaki1976Nese Ituaso-Conway List of pages 1999Miliama Simeona1999
See also List of first female pharmacists by country List of first women dentists by country Women in dentistry Women in medicine
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