Search engine giant Google is celebrating the 108th birthday of the first Bengali Muslim female physician, professor, and social reformer Dr Zohra Begum Kazi.
Google Doodle made an alteration on its Bangladeshi homepage on Thursday, showing a portrait of the physician in the middle of the Google’s logo with a tree in the background.
Dr Zohra was a 20th-century pioneer for women in medicine on the Indian subcontinent. She was awarded Tamgha-e-Pakistan in 1964, Begum Rokeya Padak in 2002, and Ekushey Padak in 2008.
At a time when the medical field was reserved primarily for men, Dr Zohra broke barriers with an unwavering dedication to patient care and fierce advocacy for female education.
Zohra Begum Kazi was born into an aristocratic medical family on this day in 1912 in Rajnandgaon, British India. Her father was a physician who encouraged his daughters to break from cultural norms by pursuing careers in medicine.
A brilliant student, Zohra graduated in 1935 with a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College for Women.
Over the following 13 years, Dr Zohra developed her expertise as an assistant surgeon in various hospitals across British India.
In the wake of India’s partition in 1947, she relocated to Dhaka, present-day Bangladesh, where she joined Dhaka Medical College and Hospital as a resident surgeon.
Following post-graduate studies, she rose to the top of her field, becoming a professor and head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr Zohra worked to redefine women’s attitudes towards medicine, providing door-to-door care to countless women who were previously intimidated by the male-dominated world of medical care.
Throughout her life, Dr Zohra committed herself to charitable and educational causes and through her pioneering example helped inspire future generations of women to become doctors, just like her.
Happy Birthday, Dr Zohra Begum Kazi!