Jenny Thomann-Koller (14 September 1866 - 5 February 1949) was a gynecologist, pediatrician, and Head of Internal Medicine at the Schweizerische Pflegerinnenschule mit Spital (Swiss Nursing School with Hospital) in Zurich. In her dissertation, Beitrag zur Erblichkeitsstatistik der Geisteskranken im Ct. Zürich. Vergleichung derselben mit der erblichen Belastung gesunder Menschen u. dergl. (Contribution to the Statistics of Heritability of Mentally Ill People in the Canton of Zurich. Comparing these with the Hereditary Burden among Healthy People), published in 1895, she introduced a control group which challenged the then-popular theory of degeneration and eugenics.
Life
Jenny Koller was born in Zurich Switzerland on September 14, 1866. She was the second child of Konrad Adolf Koller, a horsehair manufacturer and businessman, and Katharina Huber.
As a gifted student, her ambition was to become a school teacher. Her forward-looking mother, however, suggested she study medicine. Her mother introduced Koller to Dr. Marie Heim-Vögtlin, the very first female physician in Switzerland. Dr. Heim-Vögtlin told Jenny about the difficulties she would face during her medical studies and her time as a physician, but also described the practice of medicine as very meaningful and rewarding. Convinced to study medicine, Koller enrolled in the Lehrerinnenseminar (teacher's college for women) from 1883-1887 and after passing the Maturitätsexamen (qualifying exam), she began her medical studies at the University of Zurich, which she completed in 1892.
Koller went on to an approximately seven-month internship at the Charité Hospital in Paris. Women in Switzerland were permitted to study medicine, but internships were generally denied to them. Once complete, she returned to Zurich where she worked as a substitute Assistenzärztin at the Rheinau Mental Asylum.
In 1893-94, she opened her first private practice of Gynecology and Pediatrics. She published her dissertation in 1895, in the journal Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten. In the 1890s, she was associated with Swiss Association for Ethical Culture. Her name also appeared in 1902 among the members of the 'Association of Abstinent Physicians (Temperance Movement) of the German language areas'.
In 1901, Koller married Dr. Heinrich Thomann, director of the newly founded Statistical Bureau of the City of Zurich. They had three children: Heinrich, Jenny, and Felix. She continued her private medical practice and in addition, she began her long association with the Pflegerinnenschule mit Frauenspital in 1901. She had been a member of the planning committee since 1899 and was therefore closely associated with this pioneering undertaking. She would keep her position as departmental head physician for internal medicine until 1919.
In 1923 her husband suffered a stroke which affected his speech and cognitive ability. A second stroke in 1925 led to his death. She continued her large practice as Dr. Thomann-Koller on Schanzengasse 29 until 1933 and then on a smaller scale on Lintheschergasse until 1941. She spent her last years with her children and grandchildren and finally at the retirement home in Zurich.
Women studying medicine in Switzerland
Jenny Koller pursued her unusual educational and career path together with three other Zurich women. Together they attended the Lehrerinnenseminar. From 1887-1892 they studied medicine at the University of Zurich, obtaining their medical degrees by passing the Staatsprüfung (state exam). Soon after, they earned their doctorates with Inaugural Dissertations and were promoted to Dr. med. Their friendship endured throughout their lifetimes. The three of them, Jenny Koller (after 1901 Thomann-Koller), Ida Schmid (after 1896 Hilfiker-Schmid), and Pauline Gottschall, established private practices in Zurich, which they maintained for over thirty years. The fourth, Josephina Theresia Zürcher (after 1899 Dr. Fallscheer-Zürcher), spent three decades as a physician in the Middle East, often in association with missionary hospitals and attending to the victims of the 1895 Armenian massacres. In addition to their remarkable careers, they published scientific articles and, although their positions as women physicians were neither secure nor privileged, they took a stand against the then widely accepted theory of degeneration, the rigid psychiatric categorization of mental illness, and the theory and practice of eugenics.