Varvara Rudneva


Varvara Kashevarova Rudneva, was a Russian physician. She was the second woman in Russia to be a doctor and to obtain a degree in medicine, after Nadezhda Suslova. Her exam was thereby unique in Russia at the time and received much attention. Despite the ban against women studying at University, she was given a special dispensation to study for her willingness to treat women patients who refused to be treated by male doctors because of religious reasons.

Biography

Rudneva was born in the town of Chausy, Mogilev province. After her mother died, she moved to Velizh Vitebsk province with her father. In 1862, she finished training at the Midwifery Institute in St. Petersburg, and attended courses on detection and treatment of syphilis in Kalinkinskogo hospital in St. Petersburg. In 1863, she entered the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, becoming the first woman to be admitted to the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg, which she graduated in 1868 with a Diploma, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, becoming the second woman to receive a medical degree in Russia. Kashevarova continued her education to postgraduate level. At first, Rudneva-Kashevarova was not allowed to defend her doctoral dissertation, despite the fact that she had published scientific articles, extracts from which were included in a number of obstetrics manuals. On May 25, 1876 Kashevarova-Rudneva defended her doctoral thesis, becoming the first woman in Russia to defend a doctoral thesis in Medicine. She specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, and her scientific articles were published in Russian and German scientific journals. Kashevarova was admitted to the "Society of Russian Doctors in St. Petersburg" - the first woman to be admitted to the medical society.
She died on January 30, 1899, and was buried in the cemetery of the Staro-Preobrazhensky monastery in Staraya Russa.

Publications

Legacy