Tadako Urata
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Tadako Urata | |
|---|---|
| 宇良田 唯子 | |
.jpg) Urata Tadako, aged about 60 years | |
| Born | 3 May 1873 Ushibuka |
| Died | 18 June 1936 (aged 63) Tokyo |
| Other names | Urata Tada, Yui Nakamura |
| Occupation | Physician |
Tadako Urata (宇良田 唯子) (3 May 1873 – 18 June 1936) was a Japanese physician, trained in ophthalmology in Germany. She and her husband ran a clinic in Tianjin, China, from 1912 to 1932.
Urata was born in Ushibuka (now part of Amakusa city), the daughter of writer and businessman Urata Genshō. She trained as a pharmacist in Kumamoto, then earned a medical license in Tokyo in 1899; she studied infectious diseases at Kitasato Shibasaburo's Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases.[1] In 1903, she left Japan for Germany, to pursue further studies in ophthalmology, one of the first group of Japanese women to seek advanced degrees abroad.[2][3][4]
Urata earned a doctorate at the University of Marburg in 1905, with a dissertation on the prevention of neonatal gonococcal conjunctivitis.[5] Her dissertation research was published as "Experimentelle Untersuchungen über den Wert des sogenannten Credéschen Tropfens" in Ophthalmologica.[6] "Urata was not only the first female Japanese," noted Helmut Sies in 2016, "but also the first female ever who obtained the title of medical doctor at Marburg University."[7][8] The milestone was reported internationally, in both professional journals and daily newspapers.[9][10]