A viral social media video is shining a spotlight on Gulsum (Ummi-Gulsum) Asfendiyarova, the first Kazakh woman to earn a medical degree. Some viewers might even call her «Central Asia’s Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.»
Building on this recognition, the video, created with the help of artificial intelligence, tells the story of how Asfendiyarova provided women in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with their first opportunity for safe, supervised childbirth.
During Asfendiyarova’s lifetime, Muslim women were barred from seeing male doctors, while no female physicians were available. As a result, most births took place at home, and roughly one in three infants did not survive. Witnessing these hardships led Gulsum to resolve as a child to become a doctor.
Her early life further shaped her path. Born in Tashkent to a Kazakh military interpreter, she was raised in a family that placed a strong emphasis on education. Her brother, Sanjar Asfendiyarov, would later become a renowned physician and statesman. Today, Kazakhstan’s National Medical University in Almaty bears his name.
With her family’s support and a rare scholarship, Gulsum studied medicine in St. Petersburg. In 1908, she became the first Kazakh woman to graduate with a medical degree. She then returned to Central Asia, practicing in Shymkent before opening the first maternity hospital for indigenous women in Tashkent in 1915. This marked the first time Kazakh, Uzbek and Tatar mothers could deliver their babies under professional medical care.
Despite her pioneering work, her life ended tragically. In 1937, during Stalin’s purges, her brother was arrested as an «enemy of the people» and later executed. Gulsum died in Tashkent only months after his arrest, and both siblings’ names were suppressed for decades.
Recently, interest in her story has surged. The Instagram video recounting her legacy has garnered nearly half a million views and over 30,000 likes in just two days. Many Kazakh women have praised Asfendiyarova’s contributions and thanked the creators for honoring the region’s first female doctor.
