Nicole Girard-Mangin

Nicole Girard-Mangin (11 October 1878 – 6 June 1919) was the first female medical doctor to serve in the French Army. She served in several roles during the entire First World War. She was also a specialist in tuberculosis (TB).

Early life Mangin was born in Paris on 11 October 1878. Both of her parents came from Varennes-en-Argonne, in the north-east region of France. Her father was a school teacher.

Mangin started her medical studies in 1896. Girard-Mangin resumed her studies and was able to submit her thesis in 1909. She specialised in tuberculosis and contagious disease, later opening a TB clinic and starting research on cancer.

Her first posting saw her at a former health spa in Bourbonne-les-Bains, where her superior did not approve of having a woman as a doctor there. He wrote several times to headquarters requesting that Girard-Mangin be removed from this post. His requests were consistently refused as the French army still had a massive shortage of qualified doctors. She also received her first rank, as an Auxiliary Doctor, but her pay remained at nurses' level.

While in Paris, she campaigned for the French Union for Women's Suffrage. She was a participant American Red Cross sessions about tuberculosis.