List of first female physicians by country

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

Country	Physician	Year graduated medical school	Year began practice
Algeria	Aldjia Noureddine-Benallègue[1]	1946	1946
Angola	Melba Dias Costa[2]		1950
Benin	Solange Faladé[3][4]	1955
Botswana	Nolwandle Nozipo Mashalaba[5]		1965
Burkina Faso	Bibiane Kone[6]
Burundi	Marcelline Ntakibirora[7]	1982	1983
Cameroon	Gladys Ejomi[8]	1962
Cape Verde	Maria Francisca de Oliveira Sousa[9][10]
Chad	Grace Kodindo[11]		1977
Comoros	Zaitouni Abdou[12]
Democratic Republic of Congo	Louise Celia Fleming[13][14]	1895	1895
Egypt	Hilana Sedarous[15][16]	1930	1930
Equatorial Guinea	Margarita Roka Elobo[17][18]
Eswatini	Fanny Friedman[19]
Ethiopia	Widad Kidanemariam[20]		c. 1960s
Gambia	Kinneh Sogur[21]	2007
Ghana	Susan Ofori-Atta[22]	1949	1949
Ivory Coast	Christiane Welffens-Ekra[23][24]		c. 1975
Kenya	Mary de Sousa[25]		1919
Lesotho	Bertha Hardegger[26] (born in Switzerland)		1937
Liberia	Florence Gbeye D. McClain[27]		1962
Libya	Younes Qwaider[1]	1969
Madagascar	Marthe Ramiaramanana-Ralivao[28]	1950
Malawi	Vida Mungwira[29][30] (the country was then known as Nyasaland)	1961	1962
Mali	Diaka Diawara Sacko[31]
Mauritania	Nusaiba Abdel-Qader and Meimouna mint Mohamed Lemine[32][33]	2015	2015
Mauritius	Sajeda Vayid[34]	1965
Morocco	Françoise Legey[35] (born in France)	1900	1909
Namibia	Libertina Amathila[36]	1969	1969
Nigeria	Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi[37]	1938	1938
Republic of Congo	Yvonne Obenga[38][39]		c. 1970s
São Tomé and Príncipe	Julieta da Graça do Espírito Santo[40][41]		1955
Senegal	Marie-Thérèse Basse[42]	1957	1958
Seychelles	Hilda Stevenson-Delhomme[43]		1939
Sierra Leone	Irene Ighodaro[44][45]	1945
Somalia	Hawa Abdi[46]	1971	1971
South Africa	Jane Elizabeth Waterston[47]	1880
Sudan	Khalida Zahir[48]	1952	1952
	Zaroui Sarkissian[49][50]	1952
Tanzania	Esther Mwaikambo[51]	1969	1969
Tunisia	Tewhida Ben Sheikh[1]	1936	1936
Uganda	Josephine Nambooze[a][52][53]	1959	1962
Zambia	Elwyn Chomba[54][55]	1973
Zimbabwe	Madeline Nyamwanza-Makonese[56]	1970	1970

Americas

Country	Physician	Year graduated medical school	Year began practice
Antigua and Barbuda	Ruby Lake-Richards[57]	1954	1954
Argentina	Cecilia Grierson[58]	1889	1889
Bahamas	Merceline Dahl-Regis[59][b]	c. 1960s
Bolivia	Amelia Chopitea Villa[60]	1926	1929
Brazil	Marie Durocher[61]	1834	1834
Canada[62]	Emily Stowe[63]	1867 1875	1867 1875
	Jennie Kidd Trout[64]	1875	1875
Chile	Eloísa Díaz[65]	1886	1887
Colombia	Ana Galvis Hotz[66]	1877	1877
Costa Rica	Anita Figueredo[67] (lived in the U.S.)	1936
Cuba	Laura Martínez de Carvajal[68]	1889	1889
Dominican Republic	Sarah Loguen Fraser[c][70]		1884
Ecuador	Matilde Hidalgo[71]	1921	1921
El Salvador	Estela Gavidia[72]	1945	1945
Guatemala	Maria Isabel Escobar[73]	1942	1946
Guyana	Asin Ho A Shoo (Hoashoo)[74]	1912	1912
Haiti	Yvonne Sylvain[75]	1940	1940
Honduras	Martha Raudales de Midence[76]	1947	1947
Jamaica	Cicely Williams[77]	1923	1923
Mexico	Matilde Montoya[78]	1887	1887
Nicaragua	Concepción Palacios Herrera[79]	1927	1928
Panamá	Lidia Gertrudis Sogandares[80]	1934	1936
Paraguay	Gabriela Valenzuela and Froilana Mereles[81]	1924
Peru	Laura Esther Rodriguez Dulanto[82]	1899	1900
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Jean Lenore Harney[83]
Saint Lucia	Betty Bennet Wells[84]	1939
Suriname	Sophie Redmond[85]	1935	1935
Trinidad and Tobago	Stella Abidh[86]	1930
United States	Elizabeth Blackwell[87] (born in England)	1849	1851
Uruguay	Paulina Luisi[88]	1908	1909
Venezuela	Lya Imber[89]	1936	1936

Asia

Country	Physician	Year graduated medical school	Year began practice
Afghanistan	Maghul M. Ali[90]	1957	1957
Azerbaijan	Sona Valikhan[91]	1908	1908
Bahrain	Sadeeqa Ali Al-Awadi[92]	1969
Bangladesh	Zohra Begum Kazi[93]	1935
Brunei	Datin Paduka Dr Hjh Intan[94]
Cambodia	Kek Galabru[95][96]	1968	1968
China	Kin Yamei[d]	1885	1885
India	Anandi Gopal Joshi / Kadambini Ganguly[97][98]	1886
Indonesia	Marie Thomas[99]	1912	1922
Iran	Sakineh Peri[100][101]		1934
Iraq	Anna Sethian[102]		1922[103]
Japan	Ogino Ginko[104]	1882	1885
Jordan	Nirmen Totanji[105]	1953	1953
Korea	Esther Park (Kim Jeom-dong)[106]	1900
Kyrgyzstan	Kakish Ryskulovna Ryskulova[107]	1944	1944
Kuwait	Eleanor Jane Taylor Calverley[108] (born in the U.S.)	1908	1911
Lebanon	Anisa Saiba[109][110]	c. 1890s	c. 1890s
Malaysia	Salma Ismail[111]	1947	1947
Mongolia	V. Ichinkhorloo[112][113][114]	1947
Myanmar	Daw Saw Sa[115]	1912
Nepal	Jamila Sen[116][117]	1897	1899
Oman	Zakiyyah Bint Salem Bin Seif Al Me'man[118]	1944
Pakistan	Khabzam Iqbal[119]	c. 1983
Philippines	Honoria Acosta-Sison[120]	1909	1909
Saudi Arabia	Nawal Jamal Al-Lail[121]
Singapore	Lee Choo Neo[122]	1919	1919
Sri Lanka	May Ratnayake[123]	1916	1916
Syria	Sabat Islambouli[124]	1890	1890
Taiwan	Tsai Ah-hsin[125]	1921	1925
Tajikistan	Sofya Khafizovna Khakimova[126]	1943	1943
Thailand	Margaret Lin Xavier[127]	1924	1924
United Arab Emirates	Zulekha Daoud[128]		1963
Uzbekistan	Zulfiya Ibragimovna Umidova[129]	1922	1922
Vietnam	Henriette Bùi Quang Chiêu[130]	1934
Yemen	Claudie Fayein[131][132] (born in France)		1955

• Nepal: Bethel Fleming^[133][134] (born in the United States) is considered the first Western female physician to practice in the country.

Europe

Country	Physician	Year graduated medical school	Year began practice
Albania	Xhanfize (Frashëri) Basha[135]		1937
Armenia	Vergine G. Mikaelyan[136]	1927
Austria	Gabriele Possanner[137]	1897	1897
Belarus	Salome Regina Rusetskaya[e][138]
Belgium	Isala Van Diest[139]	1879	1879
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Teodora Krajewska[140]		c. 1897[141]
Bulgaria	Anastasia Golovina[142]	1878	1878
Croatia	Karola Maier Milobar[143]	1900	1906
Cyprus	Maria Michaelides[144]	1927	1927
Czech Republic	Anna Honzáková[145]	1902	1902
Denmark	Nielsine Nielsen[146]	1886	1889
Estonia	Selma Feldbach[147]	1904
Finland	Rosina Heikel[75]	1878	1878
France	Madeleine Brès[148]	1875	1875
Georgia (country)	Pelagia Natsvlishvili[149]	1878	1878
Germany	Dorothea Erxleben[150][151]	1754	1754
Greece	Maria Kalapothakes[152]	1894	1894
Hungary	Vilma Hugonnai[153]	1879	1897
Iceland	Kristín Ólafsdóttir[154]	1917[155]
Ireland	Eleanora Fleury[156]	1890	1890
Italy	Dorotea Bucca[f]	pre-1390
Kazakhstan	Gulsum Asfendiyarova and Zeinep Sadykovna.[g][157]	1908
Latvia	Marija Vecrumba[158]	1911	1911
Lithuania	Barbora Burbaitė-Eidukevičienė[159]	1892	1900
Luxembourg	Louise Welter[h][160][161]	1924	1924
Malta	Blanche Huber[162]	1925	1925
Moldova	Maria Baltaga-Savitski[163]	1879
Montenegro	Divna Veković[164]	1940s
Netherlands	Aletta Jacobs[165]	1879	1879
North Macedonia	Suncica Apostolova[166]	1953
Norway	Marie Spångberg Holth[167]	1893	1893
Poland	Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska[168]	1877	1877
Portugal	Elisa Augusta da Conceição Andrade[169]	1889	1889
Romania	Maria Cuțarida-Crătunescu[170]	1884	1891
Russia	Nadezhda Suslova[171]	1867	1868
Serbia	Draga Ljočić[172]	1879	1881
Slovakia	Mária Bellová[173]	1910
Slovenia	Eleonora Jenko Groyer[174]	1907
Spain	Dolors Aleu i Riera[175]	1879	1882
Sweden	Lovisa Åhrberg[i]	Never educated; certified 1850s	1840
Switzerland	Marie Heim-Vögtlin[26]	1874	1874
Turkey	Safiye Ali[1]		1922
Ukraine	Sofia Okunevska[176]	1894	1897
United Kingdom	Elizabeth Garrett Anderson[177]	1862	1865

Oceania

Country	Physician	Year graduated medical school	Year began practice
Australia	Constance Stone[178]		1890
Fiji	Kanta Madovji[179]	1968
Kiribati	Terenganuea Taaram[180] (then known as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony)		before 1974
Micronesia	Ulai Otobed[181]	1965
New Zealand	Emily Siedeberg[182]	1896	1905
Papua New Guinea	Joan Refshauge[183][184]		1947
Samoa	Viopapa Annandale-Atherton[185][186]	1964
Solomon Islands	Junilyn Pikacha[187]	1978	1981
Tonga	'Akanesi Makakaufaki[188]	1976
Tuvalu	Nese Ituaso-Conway[189]		1999
	Miliama Simeona[189]		1999

See also

• List of first female pharmacists by country
• List of first women dentists by country
• Women in dentistry
• Women in medicine

Notes

1. Although Nambooze practiced medicine in Uganda, she is considered the first female physician in Central Africa (which includes the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Rwanda) and East Africa (which includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Mozambique and South Sudan)
2. According to various sources, Dahl-Regis is considered one of the first women to graduate with a medical degree during the 1960s.
3. Although Fraser was the first woman authorized to practice medicine in the Dominican Republic in 1884, Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo was the first woman to earn her medical degree in the Dominican Republic in 1909.^[69]
4. Buwei Yang Chao was considered the first female doctor in China to specialize in Western medicine.
5. Salome Regina Rusetskaya never received any formal medical education.
6. First woman doctor in modern Italy was Ernestina Paper in 1877.
7. Jankümis Bayğozïna graduated from a medical school in 1885, but that was as an obstetrician.
8. Although Marcelle Dauphin is considered Luxembourg's first female doctor in certain sources, she was actually a dentist. Welter was the first female general practitioner physician.
9. First Swedish woman doctor who graduated from a University was Charlotte Yhlen, and first woman doctor to graduate from a Swedish University was Karolina Widerström.