Dora Chatterjee
Born
Punjab, India
NationalityIndian
Other namesDora Chatterjee-Rai
EducationWoman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (MD 1901)
Organization(s)Denny Hospital for Women and Children, Hoshiarpur, India
ParentKali Charan Chatterjee

Dora Chatterjee was the third Indian woman to graduate from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania and the first woman from Punjab to earn a medical degree.[1][2][3][4] She founded Denny Hospital for Women and Children in Hoshiarpur.[1]

Biography

Chatterjee, who has been described as a "Hindu Prince’s Daughter", was in fact daughter of a prominent Bengali Christian Missionary family born in Punjab, India. Her father was Kali Charan Chatterjee, a Christian convert and noted Presbyterian missionary;[5] Her mother Mary Chatterjee and her maternal grandfather the Rev. Golaknath was also active in Christian mission work.[6] As a child, she traveled with her parents to an international missions meeting in New York in 1887.[5][7]

Youngest of the five siblings, Dora Chatterjee returned to the US to study medicine at the end of the 19th century. In 1901, she graduated from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, now Drexel University College of Medicine, making her the third Indian woman to graduate from the school and the first woman from Punjab to earn a medical degree.[1][2] The school's first Indian graduate was Anandibai Joshi, who was also the first Indian woman to attend an American medical school. The second was Gurubai Karmarkar.[1][2] Chatterjee was described as "the chief interest of the graduating class" in newspapers across the US,[8] sometimes sharing that distinction with a Russian graduate, Olga Povitzky.[9]


Chatterjee returned to India and established the Denny Hospital for Women and Children in Hoshiarpur.[1] She married Rai Sahib Manghat Rai, a civil servant based in the North-West Frontier Province.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Missing at the Smithsonian exhibition: 3 Indian women who graduated from medical school in the US in the 19th century". The American Bazaar. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 McNeill, Leila. "This 19th Century "Lady Doctor" Helped Usher Indian Women Into Medicine". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  3. ↑ McCuskey, F. B. (16 July 2014). "Letter from F.B. McCuskey to Dean of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania". South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA). Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Maskiell, Michelle (1984). Women Between Cultures: The Lives of Kinnaird College Alumnae in British India. Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. ISBN 0915984865.
  5. 1 2 3 James Caruthers Rhea Ewing (1918). A Prince of the Church in India: Being a Record of the Life of the Rev. Kali Charan Chatterjee ... Harvard University. Fleming H. Revell Company. pp. 43–44, 90–91 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ Banerji, Aparna (25 April 2021). "Golaknath Memorial Church, Jalandhar: Religious legacy stands tall". Tribuneindia News Service. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Woman's Missionary Gathering". The Yonkers Gazette. 10 September 1887. p. 3. Retrieved 23 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "M. D. Degree Taken by Hindu Girl". The Choctaw Advocate. 11 September 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 23 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Fair Graduates in Medicine. Hindoo Princess and Russian Belle Will Get Diplomas". The Owensboro Messenger. 31 May 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 23 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
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