Suslova Nadezhda Prokofyevna (September 1, 1843, the selo of Panino, Gorbatov Uyezd, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate — April 20, 1918, near Alushta) was the first woman in Russia to receive a doctor of medicine degree and become a practicing physician. A native of what is now Sosnovsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region, she was the younger sister of the writer and memoirist Apollinaria Suslova. She spent most of her medical career in Nizhny Novgorod.[1]

Origins and Education

She was born into a peasant family: her father, Prokofy Suslov, had been a serf of Count Sheremetev, but he bought his freedom, rose to the position of manager of the Sheremetev estates, and became the owner of a calico mill.[2] Nadezhda received her early education at home under her mother's guidance, then at the Penichkau boarding school in Moscow, where she studied foreign languages thoroughly.[1] She was fond of Chernyshevsky's writings and was friends with revolutionary democrats. In the 1860s she belonged to the "Land and Liberty" organization and, according to secret police reports, to the First International as well; her apartment served as a meeting place for like-minded people, as a result of which Suslova found herself "under the covert, vigilant surveillance of the police."[3]

In 1861, at the age of 18, Nadezhda published two literary works in Nekrasov's Sovremennik — "A Story in Letters" and "The Dreamer."[1]

The Path into Medicine

In tsarist Russia, women were barred from universities. Only the professors of the Saint Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, Ivan Sechenov and Sergey Botkin, in 1862 allowed three young women — Maria Bokova, Varvara Kashevarova, and Nadezhda Suslova — to attend lectures as auditors.[2] That same year Suslova published an article in the Meditsinsky Vestnik (Medical Herald) on changes in skin sensation under electrical stimulation, based on her own experiments.[1]

After the new university statute of 1863 absolutely forbade women to attend institutions of higher education, Suslova, with her father's support, left for Switzerland. In 1864 she enrolled at the University of Zurich — the first woman in its history, which provoked heated debate among the professors.[4] Under the supervision of Sechenov, who was then working in Western Europe, she carried out an experimental study and in 1867 defended her dissertation, "A Report on the Physiology of Lymph," receiving a diploma as a doctor of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics.[2]

On April 16, 1868, in Vienna, Nadezhda Prokofyevna married the Swiss physician Friedrich (Fyodor) Erismann, who later stood at the origins of Russian hygiene science. Returning with him to St. Petersburg, she was forced to retake her examinations and defend her dissertation a second time — only after that did the Russian authorities recognize her as a physician.[1] In 1868 she also published "An Addendum to the Physiology of the Lymph Hearts."[2] Her marriage to Erismann effectively fell apart in 1878; the official divorce was not finalized until 1883, in Switzerland.[1]

The Nizhny Novgorod Period

In 1870 Suslova moved to Nizhny Novgorod together with the histologist Alexander Golubev, who later became her second husband. Here she maintained a large gynecological practice and lived at house no. 57 on Bolshaya Soldatskaya Street (now Volodarsky Street).[3] Besides private consultations, she worked for many years at the city maternity hospital. Her main patients were ordinary people: Suslova treated the poor free of charge and paid out of her own pocket for the prescriptions written for them at the pharmacy — the patients themselves did not know this.[5] The doctor's fame spread far beyond the governorate: people came to see her from the Urals, the Caucasus, and Siberia.[5] Suslova also negotiated with factory owners, pressing for improved working conditions for women and children.[5]

In St. Petersburg, before moving to Nizhny Novgorod, she had managed to organize courses to train women as feldshers (medical assistants); many of her students later served as military medical aides.[2]

Final Years and Legacy

In 1892 Suslova moved to Golubev's estate near Alushta on the southern coast of Crimea, where she continued her medical practice and treated impoverished women patients free of charge, while the couple donated a large sum toward the construction of a gymnasium in Alushta. In addition, Suslova opened a sanatorium for poor patients in Nalchik.[3] She died on April 20, 1918, and was buried near Alushta. She bequeathed her medical instruments, medicines, and library to medical institutions.[5]

One of the streets of Nizhny Novgorod bears the name of Nadezhda Suslova.[5]

Sources

  1. nsportal.ru — Presentation for a local history lesson on the topic of famous Nizhny Novgorod residents: "Nadezhda Suslova" — Educational Social Network
  2. history.ru — SUSLOVA NADEZHDA PROKOFYEVNA — Read articles on Russian history for schoolchildren and students
  3. nncw.ru — Women's Names on the Map of the Region
  4. moluch.ru — Suslova Nadezhda Prokofyevna — the First Woman Doctor in Tsarist Russia — Article in the journal "Young Scientist"
  5. gallery.ddt-chkalov.ru — 175 Years Since the Birth of Russia's First Woman Doctor, N. P. Suslova. — Internet Project "WE ARE TOGETHER"