Sofia Okunevska

Early life and education Okunevska was born on 12 May 1865 in the village of Dovzhanka, near Ternopil, into the family of Greek-Catholic priest Atanas Danylovych Okunevsky and Karolina Luchakovska. Her mother died in 1870, and Sofia was thenceforth raised by her aunt, Teofilie Okunevska-Ozarkevich. Kobrynska studied economics, while Okunevska attended the medical faculty of the University of Zurich. In January 1896, she successfully graduated, becoming the first Ukrainian woman of Galicia to obtain a medical university education, and indeed the first female doctor from Austrian lands. In February 1896, Okunevska gave birth to their son, Yuri.

Okunevska, along with her friends Nataliya Kobrynska and Olha Kobylianska, actively contributed to the development of the women's movement in Galicia and Bukovina. She was a passionate advocate of long walks in nature, horseback riding, skiing, conquering mountain peaks, and trying to participate in other sports activities that were only actively promoted by men at the time. They could not immediately find employment in Galicia, as the Austrian government did not recognize foreign diplomas at the time. In 1898, Okunevska gave birth to her daughter, Eva. She was the first oncologist in Galicia and Austria-Hungary to utilize radiation therapy in treating cancer.

Okunevska was a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, actively working in its mathematical-naturalist-medical section. Her scientific research on osmosis, erythrocyte osmotic pressure, was published in the medical collection of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. She studied the state of obstetric care and established a school for obstetrician-gynecologists in Lviv. She was concerned and outraged by the fact that child mortality in Galicia and the frequency of defects associated with childbirth trauma were the highest in Europe.

The subsequent conflict between Ukrainians and Poles affected the family greatly. Sofia and Vatslav divorced, and a few months later, in 1919, their daughter Eva committed suicide. Eva was pursuing education in Switzerland and could have become the first Ukrainian female architect. Morachevsky carried the urn of his daughter with him at all times for the rest of his life.thumb Okunevska moved to Lviv, to the house purchased by Andrey Sheptytsky for the artist Oleksa Novakivskyi, and began providing private medical assistance. The house was located opposite of St. George's Cathedral. The only consolation left for Okunevska was her son Yuriy. She lived with him, his wife, and their newborn daughter until 1925, when he moved to his own place.

She spent her final years in Lviv, where she maintained her small medical practice. Okunevska remained socially active until her final days. She attended meetings of the women's organization "Ukrainian Society of Women with Higher Education", established in Lviv in 1924 under the leadership of Olena Stepaniv-Dashkevych.

Sofia Okunevska died in a hospital from a severe appendicitis on February 24, 1926. She was buried in the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv. Later, her son Yuri, daughter Eva, husband Vatslav, and granddaughter Sofia were buried alongside her.