Nationality Hungarian Occupation Medical doctor | Name Vilma Hugonnai | |
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Died March 25, 1922, Budapest, Hungary | ||
Countess Vilma Hugonnai de Szentgyörgy (September 30, 1847 in Nagytétény, Hungary (today part of Budapest) – March 25, 1922 in Budapest) was the first Hungarian woman medical doctor.
Life
Countess Vilma Hugonnai was the fifth child of Count Kálmán Hugonnai and Pánczély Riza. She studied Medicine in Zurich and receiving her degree in 1879. When Vilma returned to Hungary she could not begin her career as a physician because, as a woman, the Hungarian administration refused to recognize her qualifications. She began working as a midwife until, i In 1897, the Hungarian authorities accepted her degree and she started her own practice. The first woman to qualify in Hungary was Sarolta Steinberger in 1900. Neither woman was allowed to practice without a male doctor's supervision until 1913.