Yarros, Rachelle (1869–1946)
Yarros, Rachelle (1869–1946)
Russian-born physician and educator. Name variations: Rachelle Slobodinsky Yarros. Born May 18, 1869, at Berdechev, near Kiev, Russia; died Mar 17, 1946, in San Diego, CA; dau. of Joachim Slobodinsky and Bernice Slobodinsky; m. Victor S. Yarros (journalist), July 18, 1894; children: 1 daughter (adopted).
Was 1st woman to attend College of Physicians and Surgeons in Boston (1890); received medical degree from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (1893); named instructor in clinical obstetrics (1897) and promoted to associate professor (1902) at College of Physicians and Surgeons at University of Illinois medical school; lived at social settlement Hull House (1907–27); helped found American Social Hygiene Association (1914); was vice-president of Illinois Social Hygiene League (1915); persuaded Chicago Woman's Club to form birth control committee (later Illinois Birth Control League, of which she was director); published Modern Woman and Sex (1933, reissued as Sex Problems in Modern Society, 1938). Saw physical health issues, such as venereal disease and rising birth rate, as interwoven with sociological problems such as loosening of divorce laws and juvenile delinquency.