Amelia Villa

María Amelia Chopitea Villa (20 March 1900 – 1942) was Bolivia's first female physician and writer. She was born in a time when the Bolivian society was very patriarchal.

Early life and education Chopitea Villa was born in Colquechaca, Potosí, Bolivia in 1900. Her parents were Adolfo Chopitea and Amelia Villa.

Career After receiving a bachelor's degree, Chopitea Villa entered the College of Medicine at the University of Saint Francis Xavier in Sucre, Bolivia It focused on the high infant mortality rate of the time. She began by referring to the extraordinary frequency of mortality in the environment, with all the shortcomings of the backwardness of the national communities. She presented a statistical approach on infant mortality and mortality from the years 1920 to 1925, where she demonstrated that for every one hundred children, 39% died. In the course of a year, 870 were born and 490 died. She finished her thesis expressing her appreciation to the teachers who lavished her with encouragement and enthusiasm, Drs. Leónidas Tardío, Domingo Guzmán, Jaime Mendoza, Walter Villafani, and had words of gratitude for her godfather, Dr. Nicolás Ortiz Antelo. She was Bolivia's first graduate student in the field of pediatrics.