[DR. SHOSHANA SZKOP-FRENKIEL: THE FIRST FEMALE PLASTIC SURGEON IN ISRAEL].

In the history of Israeli medicine, Dr. Shoshana Szkop-Frenkiel is regarded as the first plastic surgeon in the country and among the founders of the profession of plastic surgery. This article describes the long road she traveled, from her acceptance into medical studies in Vilna--at a time when the entry of any woman to the faculty of medicine was strictly limited and of Jewish women in particular; her emigration to Eretz Israel and her struggles as she underwent training in internal medicine at the "Hadassah" Hospital in Tel-Aviv, when she was denied training as a surgeon; and up to the moment she was accepted by the plastic surgery unit of the Tel Hashomer Hospital and became the first such female practitioner in Israel. Dr. Shoshana Szkop-Frenkiel thus fulfilled a childhood dream to become a surgeon at a time when women were excluded from surgery on the grounds that it called for "male" characteristics. This article is intended to illustrate the character of a female doctor pursuing a career in surgery during the time of the British Mandate, to illuminate her professional travails in Israel, and to emphasize her important contribution in the field.