The first woman-neurosurgeon in the world

Sofia Ionescu-Ogrezeanu (April 25, 1920, Fălticeni - March 21, 2008) was the first woman-neurosurgeon in the world.

Sofia attended primary school in her hometown, then made the first six grades in High School for Girls in Fălticeni and last two in Central School for Girls "Marica Brâncoveanu" in Bucharest, where obtained the baccalaureate in 1939. The same year she was admitted in the Faculty of Human Medicine in Bucharest, which attended in 1945. During college, Sofia implemented a first stage of practice in ophthalmology, and a second stage in 1943 as a rural doctor in a village near Fălticeni. From October 15, 1943, Sofia made a study tour of Neurosurgery in Hospital no. 9 in Bucharest, being admitted in the "gold neurosurgery team" (with Prof. Dr. Dimitrie Bagdasar, founder of Romanian neurosurgery, and doctors Constantin Arseni and Ionel Ionescu). In 1945 Miss Sofia Ogrezeanu married Dr. Ionel Ionescu, who at that time was secondary doctor in the specialty.

The year 1944 meant a turning point in his career. It happened that, after a bombing of Bucharest, an injured child for which surgery was an urgency to be brought up in a time when no doctor was available. To everyone's surprise, especially of Dr. Bagdasar, the young student offered to operate it - and saved his life. "This operation decided my life for 47 years, as I sat in neurosurgery, and I turned 180 degrees from what I proposed to me, a quiet life of a doctor internist in my hometown". In 1945 he received his doctorate in medicine and surgery. In 1954 Sofia was assigned physician at the Clinic of the Hospital "Dr. Gheorghe Marinescu", and in 1976 obtained the degree of MD Neurosurgeon II.

She was a distinguished personality, known worldwide for its outstanding contributions in the field of neurosurgery, particularly for operations on the spinal cord and brain, and his scientific works (over 120) published in Acta Chirurgica Belgica, Journal of Surgery, Neurology, Psychiatry, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Revue Roumaine d'Endocrinologie. During his career, Sofia Ionescu-Ogrezeanu received numerous awards and titles, including the highest distinction of Romania, Star of the Republic, in degree of Knight. On March 29, 1997, she became Member Emeritus of the Academy of Medical Sciences.