Tomaszewicz-Dobrska, Anna (1854–1918)

views updated

Tomaszewicz-Dobrska, Anna (1854–1918)

Polish doctor. Name variations: Anna Tomaszewiczowna. Born in 1854 in Poland; died in 1918; educated in Zurich, Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg; married a physician.

The first woman to practice medicine in Poland, Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska was born in 1854 into a family that did not encourage her career aspirations. She studied medicine in Zurich, and qualified as a doctor in Switzerland in 1878. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska then did graduate work briefly in Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, where she qualified to practice medicine in 1879. Returning to Warsaw, she married a physician and began working as a doctor. Despite objections from the medical establishment, she was made chief of Lying-In Hospital No. 2 in Warsaw, a facility for obstetric patients, and remained there until it closed in 1911. She also maintained a private practice. In 1896, Tomaszewicz-Dobrska was recognized by the Warsaw Medical Society. An advocate of women's rights, she participated in social work and was also a founding member of the Society of Polish Culture. She died in 1918.

Elizabeth Shostak , M.A., Cambridge, Massachusetts