Ernestina Pérez Barahona

Ernestina Pérez Barahona

Ernestina Pérez Barahona (Valparaíso, 8 August 1865 - 1951) was a Chilean physician and feminist activist known for being one of the first female students of medicine at the University of Chile and for being the second woman physician in Latin America, graduating just days after Eloísa Díaz. She received her secondary education at the Lebrun Pinochet School. She received a Bachelor of Letters degree in 1883, and began her study of medicine later in the same year. In January 1887, she received her Physician and Surgeon degree and title. She left for Berlin in 1888, entering the Frederick Wilhelm University (now known as Humboldt University of Berlin). Two years later, she went to Paris to continue her studies. She returned to Chile and practiced medicine before making another trip to Europe in 1910, publishing her book Compendio de Ginecologia in Leipzig in 1910. While in Germany, the Medical Academy of Berlin appointed her as an honorary member.