Dr. Virginia Soler y Alberola, born in Alcoy on March 4, 1883, was a prominent figure in the history of medicine in the province of Alicante. From a young age, she showed innate talent for learning, receiving a scholarship from the city council to study for her baccalaureate at the Institute of Alicante, the region's only secondary school at the time. Periodic trips to the capital, involving costly stagecoach journeys over stone roads and the dangerous Carrasqueta pass, were necessary for her exams.
After completing her baccalaureate with top honors, her aspiration to become a doctor led her to face a path full of bureaucratic hurdles and prevailing sexism. She had to obtain paternal authorization to enter university and submit a petition to the Minister of Public Instruction to be admitted to the University of Barcelona. She was accepted on the condition that order in the classrooms would not be disrupted.
At the University of Barcelona, where she was a peer of the renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Ignacio Barraquer, she excelled in her intellectual pursuits. She contributed to press articles on child-rearing and wrote the book Catecismo higiénico para escuela de niños (Hygienic Catechism for Children's School), which won her a distinction. She graduated in 1908 with an outstanding academic record, being the only woman in her graduating class.
Upon returning to Alcoy, she opened a practice and registered with the College of Physicians, providing financial support to her family so her sister could study midwifery. Despite the promising academic career that awaited her in Barcelona, she chose to practice medicine through 'igualas,' a system of monthly payments for medical care. She also actively participated in the First Spanish International Congress on Tuberculosis in Barcelona in 1910.
With a feminist spirit and an advanced mindset, Dr. Soler practiced medicine until her retirement. She spent her final years at the Sanatorio San Jorge, where she continued to serve as the on-call doctor until her death on March 3, 1965, one day before her 82nd birthday.
