Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo

Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo (1879–1947) was the first female medical school graduate in the Dominican Republic.

Early life She was born on November 10, 1879, in San Rafael de el Yuma, La Altagracia (Dominican Republic), in a poor family. Her mother, Felipa Perozo, was an illiterate peasant who was left pregnant by Ramón Rodríguez, a wealthy merchant of the area who was also an officer in the army of Pedro Santana.

She is the first doctor of the university institute of the Dominican Republic. As a young and medical physician of color, Rodríguez attempted to make a living in San Pedro de Macorís but founded it challenging to do so as an inexperienced female doctor. As a result of the lack of profits, Rodríguez moved to the region of Ramom Santana vaccination clinic, Society for the Protection of Mothers and Infants (Sociedad Protectora de la Maternidad y la Infancia), tuberculosis sanatorium, and lepers’ asylum, in San Pedro de Macorís. Rodríguez Perozo also had advocated for school-based sex education, family planning, birth control, and venereal disease prevention and treatment. Much of her radical ideas, as it was then seen, for the progression of women’s healthcare came from the influences of her time in France for medical school where she was trained to be a gynecologist. Once she returned from France and saw a high rate of venereal disease, she began to provide free health care to women in need this included visiting the prostitute neighborhood. In addition, to giving free milk to nursing mothers and free food to poor children.

Educator Rodríguez's mentor, Anacaona Moscoso Puello (1876-1907), founded the Instituto de Señoritas (Young Ladies Institute) in 1898 and personally enrolled Rodríguez in her first class On her return from the French capital she published a second book, titled Le Guerisseur: Cuento Chino Bíblico Filosófico de Moral Social.

Death Zaglul also states that she was seized for her opposition to the regime of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo and her strong criticism of the government, and that she was held in a fortress in San Pedro de Macoris and tortured. She was later abandoned on a road near the town of Hato Mayor.