Stefania Berlinerblau

Stefania Berlinerblau or Fanny Berlin (1852 – September 4, 1921) was an American anatomist and physician. She is noted for her investigations on blood circulation, which led to the demonstration of the artery-vein connections. She is also considered a pioneer in pushing for the recognition of women in the medical field. She was one of the first Jewish women who practiced surgery in the United States and was a co-founder of the New England Women's Medical Society, seven years before the acceptance of women into the Massachusetts Medical Society. She was the daughter of Markus Berlinerblau. At a young age, her ambition was to become a physician. In 1873, Tsar Alexander II banned women from studying in Zurich forcing her to transfer to Berlin where she completed her medical training.

To obtain her medical degree at the Bern Institute of Anatomy, she completed her dissertation on the blood circulation in mammals under the guidance of Christoph Theodor Aeby. She was appointed to a visiting physician position in 1879. The institution was the only hospital that accepted female physicians in Boston. Due to this restriction, she founded the New England Women's Medical Society in 1878 together with nine other women surgeons.

Berlinerblau's published works included a paper in the American Journal of Obstetrics in which she described her surgical methods. This publication, entitled Three Cases of Complete Prolapsus Uteri Operated upon According to the Method of Léon Le Fort, detailed her successful surgical correction of uterine prolapse.

Berlinerblau died on September 4, 1921, at her home in Boston's Roxbury district.

Publications

Three Cases of Complete Prolapsus Uteri Operated upon According to the Method of Leon Le Fort (1878) A Case of Supposed Extra-Uterine Pregnancy Treated by Electricity (1884) A Case of Ante-Uterine Hematocele Laparatomy Recovery (1889) A Case of Tubal Pregnancy (1893)