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Women of the resistance

Sofia Quintino

1879–1964

Sophia da Conceição Quintino

One of the first Portuguese women doctors, she qualified in Lisbon in 1905 and was a feminist, a republican and a freethinker: she belonged to the Portuguese Group for Feminist Studies and to the Republican League of Portuguese Women.

Republicdoctormember of the Portuguese Group for Feminist Studiesactivist in the Republican League of Portuguese Womenpioneer of physiotherapy
Born
23 May 1879, Lamas (Cadaval)
Died
8 July 1964, Carnaxide (Oeiras)
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Biography

She was born in Lamas, in Cadaval, on 23 May 1879. She qualified in 1905 at the Lisbon Medical-Surgical School and opened a practice, with other women doctors, at no. 206 Rua da Palma.1

In 1907, with Ana de Castro Osório, Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, Adelaide Cabete and Maria Veleda, she was part of the Portuguese Group for Feminist Studies.21 She later joined the Freethought movement and the Republican League of Portuguese Women, and wrote feminist articles in the Jornal das Senhoras and in A República.1

During the First World War, in Ana de Castro Osório’s Women’s Committee “Pela Pátria” (For the Homeland), she coordinated the first nursing courses in Portugal that were not taught by nuns.1 Between 1918 and 1948 she headed the physiotherapy services of Lisbon’s public hospitals and, at São José Hospital, ran the section that treated lupus with Finsen light. She died in Carnaxide on 8 July 1964, aged 85.1

Notes on the sources1
  • The address of the practice (Rua da Palma, 206, 1st floor left) and the dates of her hospital career (1918–1948) depend only on Wikipedia.

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Sources2
  1. 1Sofia Quintino. Wikipédia (pt) — consulted on 2 October 2026
  2. 2Ângelo, Carolina Beatriz (1878-1911) — Dicionário de Médicos Portugueses. Unidade de História da Medicina, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da UNL (projeto de estudantes) — consulted on 2 October 2026
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