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{{Short description|Indian physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dora Chatterjee
| image = Dora Chatterjee Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Photograph Collection.png
| other_names = Dora Chatterjee-Rai
| birth_place = [[Punjab, India]]
| education = [[Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania]] (MD 1901)
| organization = Denny Hospital for Women and Children, [[Hoshiarpur, India]]
| parents = [[Kali 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, India|Punjab]] to earn a medical degree.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=10 April 2014|title=Missing at the Smithsonian exhibition: 3 Indian women who graduated from medical school in the US in the 19th century|url=https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2014/04/10/missing-smithsonian-exhibition-3-indian-women-graduated-medical-school-us-19th-century/|access-date=16 April 2021|website=The American Bazaar|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=McNeill|first=Leila|title=This 19th Century "Lady Doctor" Helped Usher Indian Women Into Medicine|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/19th-century-lady-doctor-ushered-indian-women-medicine-180964613/|access-date=16 April 2021|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=McCuskey|first=F. B.|date=16 July 2014|title=Letter from F.B. McCuskey to Dean of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania|url=https://www.saada.org/item/20140716-3629|access-date=18 April 2021|website=South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Maskiell|first=Michelle|title=Women Between Cultures: The Lives of Kinnaird College Alumnae in British India|publisher=Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University|year=1984|isbn=0915984865}}</ref> She founded Denny Hospital for Women and Children in [[Hoshiarpur]].<ref name=":0" />

== 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;<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=James Caruthers Rhea Ewing|url=https://archive.org/details/aprincechurchin00ewingoog/page/n52/mode/2up?q=Dora|title=A Prince of the Church in India: Being a Record of the Life of the Rev. Kali Charan Chatterjee ...|date=1918|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company|others=Harvard University|pages=43–44, 90–91|language=English|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Her mother Mary Chatterjee and her maternal grandfather the Rev. Golaknath was also active in Christian mission work.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Banerji|first=Aparna|date=April 25, 2021|title=Golaknath Memorial Church, Jalandhar: Religious legacy stands tall|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/religious-legacy-stands-tall-243899|url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-23|website=Tribuneindia News Service|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223041701/https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/religious-legacy-stands-tall-243899 |archive-date=23 December 2021 }}</ref> As a child, she traveled with her parents to an international missions meeting in New York in 1887.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=1887-09-10|title=Woman's Missionary Gathering|pages=3|work=The Yonkers Gazette|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91011743/womans-missionary-gathering/|access-date=2021-12-23|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The school's first Indian graduate was [[Anandi Gopal Joshi|Anandibai Joshi]], who was also the first Indian woman to attend an American medical school. The second was [[Gurubai Karmarkar]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Chatterjee was described as "the chief interest of the graduating class" in newspapers across the US,<ref>{{Cite news|date=1901-09-11|title=M. D. Degree Taken by Hindu Girl|pages=4|work=The Choctaw Advocate|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91028222/m-d-degree-taken-by-hindu-girl/|access-date=2021-12-23|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> sometimes sharing that distinction with a Russian graduate, [[Olga Povitzky]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=1901-05-31|title=Fair Graduates in Medicine. Hindoo Princess and Russian Belle Will Get Diplomas|pages=4|work=The Owensboro Messenger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91009576/fair-graduates-in-medicine-hindoo/|access-date=2021-12-23|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Chatterjee returned to India and established the Denny Hospital for Women and Children in [[Hoshiarpur]].<ref name=":0" /> She married Rai Sahib Manghat Rai, a civil servant based in the [[North-West Frontier Province]].<ref name=":2" /> And had two daughters Priobala and Leena Shielarani and two sons [[Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai]] and Charles Rajinder Mangat Rai.

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==

* [https://idea.library.drexel.edu/islandora/object/lca%3A1732#page/1/mode/1up Newspaper clipping, Dora Chatterjee's graduation from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Public Relations office records]
* [https://www.saada.org/item/20140716-3629 Letter sent from India to Woman's Medical College reporting Chatterjee's change of address from Legacy Center Archives, Drexel University College of Medicine, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Collection via the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:20th-century Indian women medical doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:Drexel University alumni]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]

Dora Chatterjee - Revision history

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