Vera Gedroits

Vera Gedroits was born in 1870 in Slobodische, Russia. She was not allowed to study in Russia after her involvement in a controversial student movement. In order to secure her education, she married Nikolai Belozerov (despite being open about her lesbianism) to secure a passport under her married name to immigrate to Switzerland and study at the University of Lausanne.

Gedroits studied to become a surgeon and received her degree as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery in 1898. After completing her studies, her family asked her to return to Russia as her sister had recently died and her mother was in poor health. In Russia she continued her medical practice and began publishing papers that would gain her notoriety within the wider medical community.

With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Gedroits began working with the Red Cross to care for the wounded. She pioneered the use of laparotomies, and was one of the first doctors to successfully operate on abdominal wounds (previously considered fatal).

After the war, Gedroits continued operating and published 17 papers within 7 years. It is estimated that she assisted over 125,000 patients in a five-year span. In 1909, Gedroits took up the post of resident physician at the Tsarskoye Selo Court Hospital where she oversaw the needs of the royal family and those in the surrounding city. This post ended when Tsar Nicholas abdicated and Gedroits moved to Kiev.

Gedroits entered a relationship with Countess Nirod that lasted until the end of her life. She became a patron of various writers, and died in 1932.