Merit Ptah

Merit Ptah ("Beloved of the god Ptah"; c. 2700 BCE) was an early physician in ancient Egypt. She is most notable for being the first woman known by name in the history of the field of medicine, and possibly the first named woman in all of science as well.

Her picture can be seen on a tomb in the necropolis near the step pyramid of Saqqara. Her son, who was a High Priest, described her as "the Chief Physician."

The physician Merit Ptah should not be confused with Merit-Ptah, the wife of Ramose, the Governor of Thebes and Vizier under Akhenaten, who is depicted with her husband in TT55 in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna.