María_Elisa_Rivera_Díaz
María Elisa Rivera Díaz
Puerto Rican medical doctor
María Elisa Rivera y León de Díaz (born 1887 in Hatillo, Puerto Rico) was one of the first four women from Puerto Rico to earn a medical degree; the other three were Ana Janer in 1909, Palmira Gatell in 1910, and Dolores Piñero in 1913.[1][2][3] Ana Janer and Rivera graduated in the same medical school class in 1909 and thus could both be considered the first female Puerto Rican physician.[4]
Rivera graduated from the Women's Medical College of Baltimore, and started her medical practice that same year.[1][3][5] She was the first Puerto Rican woman to graduate medical school with the highest honors.[1]