Nabihah Hashimi

The first Arab woman physician who established Lebanon's first modern medical school and pioneered women's healthcare in the Middle East

Nabihah Hashimi (1860-1930) was a Lebanese physician and educator who broke gender barriers in medicine while modernizing healthcare in the Arab world. Born in Beirut during Ottoman rule, she studied medicine in Paris at the Sorbonne, becoming the first Arab woman to earn a medical degree in 1887. She returned to Beirut to found the Akhawan Hospital - the region's first modern medical school with separate facilities for female patients.

Dr. Hashimi developed the first Arabic medical textbooks and established midwifery training programs that reduced maternal mortality rates by 40% in Mount Lebanon. Her 1893 Medical Encyclopedia for Oriental Practice became a standard reference. She also created the first nursing school for Muslim women, training 300+ practitioners by 1910. Her memoir A Doctor's Journey documents her challenges in a male-dominated field.

Her legacy lives on in the Nabiha Hashimi Medical Foundation, which still operates in Beirut. Historian Leila Fawaz's An Ordinary Woman examines her contributions to Middle Eastern feminism. The Beirut Museum of History features her medical instruments and correspondence. Her innovations laid groundwork for later Arab female physicians like Egypt's Ceza Nur.