Dr. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi (March 31, 1865 – February 26, 1887) was a trailblazing Indian woman, recognized as one of the first Indian female physicians to earn a degree in Western medicine. Born as Yamuna in Kalyan, Maharashtra, in a Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin family, she was married at age nine to Gopalrao Joshi, a widower nearly 20 years her senior, who renamed her Anandi. Gopalrao, a progressive postal clerk, championed women’s education, an uncommon stance in 19th-century India, and supported Anandibai’s academic pursuits.

The loss of her newborn son at age 14, due to inadequate medical care, was a pivotal moment that inspired Anandibai to pursue medicine to improve healthcare for Indian women. Facing societal opposition, she learned English and Sanskrit, and in 1883, traveled alone to the United States to study at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, one of the few institutions accepting women. She graduated with an MD in 1886 at age 21, with her thesis, “Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindoos,” blending Ayurvedic and Western medical knowledge. Queen Victoria sent her a congratulatory message upon graduation.

Despite her declining health due to tuberculosis, exacerbated by the cold American climate and unfamiliar diet, Anandibai returned to India in 1886. She was appointed physician-in-charge of the female ward at Albert Edward Hospital in Kolhapur but succumbed to tuberculosis in 1887 at age 22. Her ashes were interred in Poughkeepsie, New York, by her friend Theodicia Carpenter.

Anandibai’s legacy as a pioneer for women’s education and healthcare endures. She inspired countless women, with her story documented in biographies, a Marathi novel, and the 2019 film Anandi Gopal. A crater on Venus is named in her honor, and the Institute of Research and Documentation in Social Sciences awards the Anandibai Joshi Award for Medicine.