Sofia Okunevska

Sofia Okunevska (Ukrainian: Софія Окуневська, German: Sofia Okunewska; 12 May 1865 – 24 February 1926) was a Ukrainian physician, educator, feminist, and scholar. She was the first woman in Galicia to receive a gymnasium diploma and obtain a university education, and also the first female Doctor of Medicine and the first female physician in Austria-Hungary. She pioneered the use of radiation therapy for combating cancer in Galicia and Austria-Hungary. She organized courses for nursing sisters and midwives, co-sponsored the establishment of the first medical trade union, and compiled a dictionary of Ukrainian medical terminology. In addition to practicing medicine in Lviv, she also worked in Switzerland, Czechia, and in the Austrian camps during World War I. Okunevska was a public activist and an important figure of the feminist movement in Galicia and Austria-Hungary. She also ventured into other fields of study, such as literature and various scientific studies. She spent the last years of her life in Lviv, where she led a small medical practice. Sofia Okunevska died in a hospital of purulent appendicitis and was buried in the Lychakiv Cemetery.