Women in Medicine at the beginning of the 20th Century: the trajectory of Olga Maia Paes de Andrade, the first female doctor graduated in Pará State, Brazil (1928)

Abstract

The School of Medicine and Surgery of Pará, Brazil, was founded in 1919, and there were only seven women out of 50 students in the class. By the end of the six-year medical course, in 1924, only four students had graduated, but no women. The first woman to finish medical school in Pará State was Olga Maia Paes de Andrade, in 1928. Although she is a pioneer, her journey is not remembered in the memoirs of the School of Medicine. This report is a contribution to the recognition of this pioneering spirit, important in the historical trajectory of Amazonian women.