Vera Gedroits

Princess Vera Gedroits
Princess Vera Gedroits
Вера Гедройц
	Vera Gedroits with patients circa 1915
Born	Vera Ignatievna Gedroits; 19 April 1870; Slobodishche, Oryol Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	March 1932 (aged 61); Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Other names	Vera Gedroyts, Vera Gedroitz, Vera Gedröitz, Vera Giedroyć, Vyera Ignat'yevna Gyedroycz
Occupations	Physician; poet;
Years active	1900–1932
	Writing career
Pen name	Sergei Gedroits

Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits (Russian: Ве́ра Игна́тьевна Гедро́йц listen^ⓘ; 7 April 1870 O.S./19 April 1870 N.S. – March 1932, literary 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 Imperial Court of Russia.

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.