Isala Van Diest

Anne Catherine Isala Van Diest was born on May 7, 1842, in Leuven, the daughter of an open-minded surgeon. Refused admission to the medical faculty of the Catholic University of Leuven because of her gender, Van Diest traveled to Switzerland, earning her medical degree from the University of Bern in 1879.

Returning to Belgium, she was barred from practicing medicine until a royal decree finally authorized female physicians in 1884. Van Diest opened a medical clinic in Brussels treating impoverished working-class women and prostitutes. In 1892, she co-founded the Belgian League for the Rights of Women alongside Marie Popelin. Belgium honored her on its 2011 commemorative two-euro coin.