Skip Navigation

We are closed today.

Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Anna Schabanoff

b. 1848, Smolensk, Russia; d. 1932, Saint Petersburg

The correct spelling of this name is ANNA SHABANOVA.

Anna Shabanova became a pediatrician after earning a degree in medicine at the Higher Women’s Medical Courses of Saint Petersburg in 1878. She spent her entire career at the Ol’denburg Children’s Hospital in Saint Petersburg, eventually attaining the post of senior hospital physician. As a children’s advocate, Shabanova established the Society for the Treatment of Chronically Ill Children and opened children’s clinics in Gatchina (1882) and Vindava (1900). She was also a women’s rights activist and founded the Zhenskoe Vzaimno-Blagotvoritel’noe Obshchestvo (Russian Women’s Mutual Philanthropic Society) in 1895. Her participation in the Russian women’s movement led to several leadership roles in international women’s organizations. Shabanova received many accolades for her professional work, including a Hero of Labor medal (1928) and membership in the American Academy of Social Sciences in Philadelphia (1929).