A Regional History of Medicine in the Middle East

Ms. Anabella Esperanza

PhD candidate

Student of women and medicine in the Ladino speaking Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire. Her research explores the religious and medical practices of Jewish women in the Late Ottoman Empire.

Ms. Esperanza holds a President’s Fellowship at the Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. She received her MA from the Department for the Study of Jewish Languages and Literatures: Ladino Studies. Her MA thesis, "Women's Writings in Judezmo (Ladino) in the Late Ottoman Empire (1871-1902): Istanbul, Salonica and Serres", examines aspects of literacy, reading and writing practices of the first female writers in Judezmo (Ladino) in the late Ottoman Empire.