Women in Polish otorhinolaryngology

Abstract

The first woman with a doctor’s degree to practice in Poland was Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska (1854–1918). In Polish literature it is difficult to establish which of the women was the first to deal with diseases in the field of otorhinolaryngology. Pioneers in the specialty of otorhinolaryngology could be women who graduated from medical studies and completed “specialization” in clinics outside Poland or in Krakow, where the first department was established in Poland, and women were the first to have the opportunity to study medicine. In Poland, in 1925, out of 738 female doctors, only 4 of them dealt with diseases in the area of the head and neck, in 1938 21 women out of 2018 female doctors, and in 2020 out of 90.435 women, 1991 out of 3.378 doctors practicing the otorhinolaryngology. In Poland, Aleksandra Salomea Mitrinowicz-Modrzejewska was probably the first female otorhinolaryngologist who obtained her habilitation in 1947 and riched the title of professor in 1954. Until now, it has been established that only 27 women in Poland associated with otorhinolaryngology who have obtained the full professor title.