page_title: Women in medicine
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Women in medicine / Women's contributions to medicine in the United States / Pioneering women in early modern medicine / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Tuvalu's first female doctors. Tuvalu 2008.
context_page_description: The presence of women in medicine, particularly in the practicing fields of surgery and as physicians, has been traced to earliest human history. Women have historically had lower participation levels in medical fields compared to men with occupancy rates varying by race, socioeconomic status, and geography.
  Women's informal practice of medicine in roles such as caregivers, or as allied health professionals, has been widespread. Since the start of the 20th century, most countries of the world provide women with equal access to medical education. Not all countries ensure equal employment opportunities, and gender equality has yet to be achieved within medical specialties and around the world, studies suggesting that female doctors may be providing higher-quality care than male doctors.
context_section_description: Dorothy Pantin (1896–1985), was the first woman doctor and surgeon of the Isle of Man.
  Marguerite Champendal (1870–1928), first woman from Geneva to earn her M.D. at the University of Geneva in 1900.
  Safieh Ali (1900–1952), first Turkish woman to have obtained a medical degree.
  Kornelija Sertić (b. unknown, circa 1900), the first woman to graduate from the Medical School in Zagreb, which occurred in 1923.
  Agnes Yewande Savage (1906–1964), the first woman in West Africa to qualify in medicine
  Henriette Bùi Quang Chiêu (1906–2012), first female doctor in Vietnam.
  Yvonne Sylvain (1907–1989), the first female doctor in Haiti. She was the first woman accepted into the medical school of the University of Haiti, and earned her medical degree there in 1940.
  Virginia Apgar (1909–1974), significant work in anesthesiology and teratology; founded field of neonatology; first woman granted full professorship at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.
  Isobel Addey Tate, one of the first women to die while serving as a doctor overseas during the First world war.
  Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi (1910–1971), first female physician in Nigeria.
  Badri Teymourtash (1911–1989), the first Iranian female dentist, educated in Belgium.
  Alma Dea Morani (1907–2001), the first woman admitted to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons
  Margaret Allen, first female heart transplant surgeon in the USA – transplant performed in 1985
  Jane Elizabeth Hodgson (1915–2006), pioneering provider of reproductive healthcare for women and advocate for women's rights.
  Matilda J. Clerk (1916–1984), physician who was the first woman to obtain a postgraduate diploma in colonial Ghana and West Africa.
  Mary Malahele-Xakana (1917–1982), the first black woman to register as a medical doctor in South Africa (in 1947).
  Susan Gyankorama De-Graft Johnson (1917–1985), was the first woman to qualify as a physician in colonial Ghana.
  Salma Ismail (1918–2014), the first Malay woman to qualify as a doctor.
  Estela Gavidia (b. unknown, circa 1920), the first woman to graduate as a doctor in El Salvador, which occurred in 1945.
  Barbara Ross-Lee (b. 1942), first African American female dean of a U.S. medical school (1993), Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
  Rehana Kausar (b. mid-20th century), the first woman doctor from Azad Kashmir to graduate from Medical School in Pakistan, which occurred in 1971.
  Nancy Dickey (b. 1950), first female president of the American Medical Association
  Madeline Nyamwanza-Makonese (b. unknown, mid-20th century), the first Zimbabwean female doctor, the second African woman to become a doctor, and the first African woman to graduate from the University of Rhodesia Medical School.
  Nancy C. Andrews (b. 1958), first female Dean of a top ten medical school in the United States (2007), Duke University School of Medicine.
  Clara Raquel Epstein (b. 1963), first Mexican-American woman U.S. trained and U.S. board certified in neurological surgery and youngest recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Neurosurgery.
  Dr Pearl Dunlevy (13 August 1909 – 3 June 2002), physician and epidemiologist.
  Prof. Ethna Gaffney was the first female RCSI Prof. of Chemistry
  Tu Youyou (b.1930), first Chinese Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine and the first female citizen of the People's Republic of China to receive a Nobel Prize in any category (2015).
  Esther Apuahe, first female surgeon in Papua New Guinea (2011).
caption: The small island nation of Tuvalu welcomed its first Tuvaluan female doctors in 2008 as a result of Australian aid.[104]
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