María Elisa Rivera y León de Díaz (January 20, 1887 – March 12, 1981) was one of the first four women from
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
to earn a medical degree; the other three were
Ana Janer in 1909, Palmira Gatell in 1910, and
Dolores Piñero in 1913.
[Women's Military Memorial](_blank)
["LA MUJER EN LAS PROFESIONES DE SALUD (1898–1930); By: YAMILA AZIZE VARGAS1 and LUIS ALBERTO AVILES; PRHSJ Vol, 9 No. 1] Ana Janer and Rivera graduated in the same medical school class in 1909 and thus could both be considered the first female Puerto Rican physician.
Rivera graduated from the Women's Medical College of Baltimore, and started her medical practice that same year.
She was the first Puerto Rican woman to graduate medical school with the highest honors.
See also
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List of Puerto Ricans
This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...
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History of women in Puerto Rico
The recorded history of Puerto Rican women can trace its roots back to the era of the ''Taíno'', the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who inhabited the island that they called ''Borinquen'' before the arrival of Spaniards. During the Span ...
References
1887 births
People from Arecibo, Puerto Rico
20th-century Puerto Rican physicians
1981 deaths
20th-century American physicians
20th-century Puerto Rican women physicians
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