Maria Anaíde de Carvalho

Brazil's first female physician who pioneered public health initiatives in the Amazon region.

Maria Anaíde de Carvalho (1837–1915) became Brazil’s first licensed female doctor after graduating from the Rio de Janeiro Medical School in 1862, defying societal expectations in a country where women were largely excluded from higher education. Born to a poor family in Rio de Janeiro, she worked as a midwife before petitioning the government to allow female medical students. Her 1859 petition argued that women could better treat female patients and children, eventually persuading authorities to create Brazil’s first women’s medical college.

After earning her degree, Anaíde established the first public health clinic in the Amazonian city of Belém, focusing on combating yellow fever and malaria through sanitation reforms. She trained Indigenous healers in modern medical techniques while respecting traditional knowledge, creating a unique blend of Western and local practices. During the 1870s rubber boom, she documented working conditions in rubber plantations, exposing child labor and unsafe practices in reports that influenced labor laws.

Her memoir Memórias de Uma Médica Amazônica (1908) remains a key primary source on 19th-century Amazonian society. Despite her achievements, Anaíde faced constant backlash from male colleagues and religious leaders. Modern historians praise her as a bridge between abolitionist movements and early feminist activism. Learn more via the Portuguese Wikipedia or her British Library archives.