Vera Gedroits

Life & Legacy

Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits (Russian: Ве́ра Игна́тьевна Гедро́йц, romanized: Vera Ignatyevna Gedroyts, IPA: [ˈvʲɛrə ɪɡˈnatʲjɪvnə ɡʲɪˈdrojts] ; 19 April [O.S. 7 April] 1870 – March 1932), also known by her pen name Sergei Gedroits, was a Russian doctor of medicine and author. She was the first woman military surgeon in Russia, the first woman professor of surgery, and the first woman to serve as a physician to the Russian imperial court.
Following her involvement in a student movement, Gedroits was unable to complete her studies in Russia, and despite being openly lesbian, entered into a marriage of convenience, which allowed her to obtain a passport in another name and leave the country. In Switzerland, she enrolled in the medical courses of César Roux and graduated in 1898, working as Roux's assistant, but returned to Russia because of illnesses in her family.
As a young physician, Gedroits was concerned at the low standards of hygiene, nutrition and sanitation, and made recommendations to improve conditions. In the Russo-Japanese War, she performed abdominal surgeries against established policy, leading to a change in the way battlefield medicine was performed. Much decorated for her war service, she served as physician to the royal court until the outbreak of World War I, training the Tsarina Alexandra and her daughters as nurses.
At the beginning of the Revolution, Gedroits returned to the battle front. Wounded, she was evacuated to Kiev, where she resumed her work as a physician and academic. In 1921, she was hired to teach pediatric surgery at the Kiev Medical Institute and within two years was appointed a professor of medicine. Soviet purges at that time removed her from office in 1930 and denied her a pension. Gedroits turned her attention to writing autobiographical novels until her death from uterine cancer in 1932.