María Teresa Ferrari

In 1914, Ferrari started work at the obstetrics clinic of the Hospital Ramos Mejía of Buenos Aires.[8] She applied to teach obstetrics at the university, but was turned down. In the proceedings of the Honorable Consejo Directivo (HCD) on 23 June 1915, it was stated: "Despite their qualifications, for physiological and psychological reasons people of the feminine sex do not meet the required conditions to be engaged as professors in the Faculty [of Medicine]".[5] The following year, she was permitted to teach at the School of Midwifery,[1] but this lacked the standing and credentials of a professorship at the university.[5] When an opening for an alternate professorship appeared in 1919, Ferrari reapplied to the university but was met with resistance. The members of the HCD delayed calling together the jurors to fill the vacancy until 1925, altering evidence, ignoring recommendations, and evading a decision.[9] In 1926, she sent a detailed outline of her accomplishments to the committee, stating that she had taught in secondary schools for 20 years and had dedicated 15 years to her field of medicine, and had enrolled in university courses for nine years. One adviser, Dr. Speroni, having read her qualifications, sent a message to the dean imploring that they admit her because she was qualified, had shown dedication, and the school was understaffed. It was not until 1927 that the jurors met, and a thirteen to two vote approved her application for an alternate professorship.[10] The news of the first female university professor in Latin America made headlines throughout Spanish-speaking countries. Newspapers in Argentina, including La Prensa, La Nación, La Razón, and others of the capital, El Censor in Gualeguaychú, Los Andes in Mendoza, Buenos Aires Sud in Florencio Varela, and the Italian La Patria degli Italiani and Spanish El Diario Español carried stories of her triumph.[11]

The Columbia Hospital for Women, in Washington, D.C., where Ferrari was an assisting physician

In the interim, Ferrari continued her studies rather than await a decision. Between 1921 and 1923, she visited many European clinics, including facilities in Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, and Italy.[12] She was an assisting physician in the clinic of Marie Curie in Paris, as well as, in the Columbia Hospital for Women and Lying-In Asylum in Washington, D.C.[8] The Faculty of Medicine of Paris awarded her the first diploma ever given to a woman for studies in urinary tract monitoring. In 1924, she designed a vaginoscope, which was much easier to sterilize and was more adaptable to multiple specula than previous models.[13] The device significantly improved services available to women in Brazil, and the invention was featured in the articles of the Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Rio de Janeiro. The innovation won the Grand Prize at the 1924 Congreso Hispano Lusitano Americano de Ciencias Médicas held in Seville, Spain.[14]

Ferrari was particularly interested in investigating alternatives to surgery, and her studies on radiation therapy at the Curie Institute became the basis for a 1928 thesis on "Treating Uterine tumors with radiation".[15] In 1925, she was appointed as the Argentine governmental delegate to the First Child Welfare Congress in Geneva.[12] One of the major topics of the conference was the training of midwives in labor and hygiene practices.[16] When her professorship was finally approved, and she returned to Argentina, a celebration was held on 11 August 1927 at the Jockey Club of Buenos Aires, attended by the Minister of the Interior, José P. Tamborini; the director of the Hospital Militar, Alberto Levenne; her research mentor, Joaquín Llambías; and many colleagues, peers, family members, and friends.[17] Ferrari was appointed head of gynecology and maternity at Hospital Militar in Buenos Aires, a post which she held until 1939.[12]

Ferrari traveled to Mexico, the United States, and Canada in 1929, studying for eight months and attending conferences. In the United States, she participated in a Caesarean section at Columbia University, becoming the first Argentine to have performed surgery in Washington, D.C. The baby born as a result of the surgery was named "Argentina".[14] In 1930, she served as the Argentine delegate for the VII Medical Congress of Latin America held in Mexico [5] and presided over the first general session. She presented three papers; one addressed uterine tumors, and the other two were about syphilis.[14] She was also the delegate for the 2nd Congress of the Pan-American Medical Association in Panama. Between 1930 and 1932 she returned to the United States for additional studies,[5][14] which focused on colibacillosis, sepsis, puerperal infections, and investigating whether vaccines could be developed to prevent the development of conditions resulting from childbirth or miscarriage.[18]

In 1936, Ferrari founded the Argentina Federation of University Women (FAMU) to improve the social and legal standing of women and, specifically, open educational doors.[19] She recruited professional women, including physicians, dentists, and attorneys and she organized scientific and cultural discussions and seminars. FAMU had regular French, German, physical education, and mathematics courses, which it offered to its nearly 100 members.[20] The political and civic limitations that threatened the careers of these women was a concern, and the organization's official statement supported enfranchisement as "not a mere political aspiration for women, but a real right acquired by suffering, work, and deprivation experienced by women..."[21] In 1938, the Argentine organization joined the International Federation of University Women, which had served as Ferrari's inspiration.[19]

Hospital Militar Central

In 1925, Ferrari was called to assist a military wife during childbirth at the Hospital Militar Central of Buenos Aires, which had no gynecological unit. After she proposed that one be developed, Ferrari started the facility with one bed and donated equipment and supplies. In June of that year, the military gazette began advertising that gynecological services were available from Mondays to Fridays at the hospital. As military wives became aware of the services, the growth was exponential. Within five years, Ferrari had expanded the service to two floors that housed a maternity unit with two delivery rooms, their own sterilization facility, a recovery unit, and forty beds in private rooms. She also developed a small sealed room with purified air and an incubator, the first of its kind in Argentina.[22] Ferrari brought the techniques she had learned abroad to Argentina. Although radiology had been performed in other parts of the world for decades, there was resistance to implementing it by professionals with no experience. Ferrari insisted it should be introduced and fought against the previous practice of surgical solutions for all cases, advocating that surgery only be used when absolutely necessary.[15] A commemoration for the tenth anniversary of the maternity unit was attended by the Minister of War, the Director General of Health, the Hospital Director, and other senior officials, as well as by children born during the previous ten years, together with their families. A commission of the Marine wives who had received service from Ferrari's unit made a substantial donation.[23] Despite her success, the atmosphere at the hospital remained hostile.

Following the 1930 coup d'état of José Félix Uriburu with the country's shift to a more conservative stance during the Infamous Decade, Ferrari ultimately was forced to leave the hospital in 1939.[24]

Ferrari's disappointment at having to leave the hospital was offset in 1939, when she was finally made a full professor, receiving the title "Profesor Extraordinario" of the Obstetrics Faculty.[25] Throughout the 1940s she continued her education, traveling to Cuba, New York, Pennsylvania, Peru, and Puerto Rico, publishing her research in a variety of journals.[26] In 1946 she resigned as president of the Argentina Federation of University Women,[20] but continued to represent the organization at conferences, such as the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres, which she attended in Guatemala City in 1947.[27]

Ramon Carrillo

After 43 years of teaching at Normal School Nº 3, Ferrari was forced into retirement by the Ministry of Education because she refused to participate in a political contribution fund. She also was asked to resign from her position as professor of psychology at Colegio William Morris.[25] In 1952, rather than join the Peronista supporters and betray her ideals, she took full retirement.[5] When elected, Perón had instituted a massive overhaul of the health system of Argentina. He appointed Ramón Carrillo as his health minister. In the beginning, hospital beds were added, vaccination programs were instituted, a campaign against malaria was launched, and other improvements were made. However, by the early 1950s, it was clear that policies were unevenly applied, implementation was erratic, and political cronyism was working against providing health services for those most in need. Two years after Ferrari resigned, Carrillo resigned, disillusioned with the Perón administration.[28]