Hélène Michel-Wolfromm was a French gynecologist known for her work on the sexual problems encountered by French women.
Early life and education
Michel-Wolfromm was born in Paris on December 4, 1914 and died on April 5, 1969 from lung cancer.
She studied medicine with a focus in gynecology in Paris and graduated in 1938. Michel-Wolfromm was the first in France to apply
psychosomatic medicine
Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field exploring the relationships among social, psychological, behavioral factors on bodily processes and quality of life in humans and animals.
The academic forebear of the modern field of ...
to the field of gynecology.
She focused on
sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism.
Sexologists app ...
and a psychosomatic approach to gynecological problems. She also spoke with the press about sexual problems experienced by women. She talked about sexuality as 'that thing' when talking to her patients, and considered female mental instability a fear of aging. The female patients she saw were referred to her by other doctors who no longer wished to treat them.
In her later years she defended the right of women to obtain birth control.
After her death in 1969, an obituary by
Raoul Palmer Raoul Albert Charles Palmer FRCOG (29 August 1904, Paris – 5 July 1985), known as A.C. Palmer, was a French gynecologist and pioneer in gynecologic laparoscopy.
Palmer was born in Paris. His parents, Fritjof Palmer and Signe, née Garling, were ...
was published in ''Gynécologie et Obstétrique,'' and second obituary appeared in ''
La Presse Médicale
''La Presse Médicale'' is a French peer-reviewed academic journal of medicine established in 1983. It is published by Elsevier, and is edited by Loic Guillevin and Frédérique Lesaulnier. An English supplement, ''Quarterly Medical Review'', is pu ...
.''
Selected publications
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References
Further reading
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1914 births
1969 deaths
Women physicians
French gynaecologists
Birth control activists
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