Gertrude Herzfeld

Gertrude Marian Amalia Herzfeld (1 June 1890 – 12 May 1981) was an English surgeon, one of the first female surgeons to work in Scotland and the first woman paediatric surgeon. The second female fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, and the first practicing female fellow, Herzfeld chaired the Edinburgh city branch of the British Medical Association from 1960 to 1962, and was National President of the Medical Women's Federation from 1948 to 1950.

Early life

Herzfeld was born in Hampstead, London, in 1890; her parents were Jewish immigrants from Austria. After being educated in London, she studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, qualifying in 1914 with an MB ChB degree. She was to spend much of her professional career in Edinburgh. Herzfeld's early career was marked by her appointment as house surgeon to Sir Harold Stiles at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children and the Chalmers Hospital shortly after qualifying, making her the first woman to hold the post. That year also saw Herzfeld take up several concurrent appointments. She became a consultant surgeon at the woman-run Bruntsfield Hospital for Women and Children, a position that she held until 1955. and the first female fellow to practise.