Jerusha Jacob JhiradFRCOG,MBE (21 March 1891 – 2 June 1984) was an Indian physician.^[1][2]

Jhirad was born inShivamogga,Karnataka.^[3] She was a member of theBene IsraelJewish community.^[1][4] She attended high school inPune,^[3] thenGrant Medical College in Bombay, where she became a Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery with anL.M.S. diploma in 1912.^[5] She was the first woman to be granted a scholarship by the Indian government to study abroad.^[1] In England she studied at the London School of Medicine for Women (based at theRoyal Free Hospital), re-qualified as a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS) of the University of London in 1917^[6] and went on to a doctorate (M.D.) in 1919 in Midwifery and Diseases of Women.^[7] Specializing inobstetrics and gynaecology^[5] she worked as a House Surgeon at theElizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London in 1917 and at the Birmingham Maternity Hospital in 1918 before returning to India.^[8]

While she was studying in England duringWorld War I, Jhirad was an obstetric assistant and house surgeon at theElizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, and house surgeon at a maternity hospital inBirmingham. Back in India by 1920, she was briefly an obstetrician at theLady Hardinge Hospital inDelhi. From 1920 to 1924, she was medical officer-in-charge at the maternity hospital inBangalore. From 1925 to 1928 she was on the staff of theCama Hospital inMumbai, where she served as medical officer-in-charge in 1929 to 1947.^[1][5]

Jhirad was appointed ajustice of the peace in 1931.^[5] In 1934 she provided medical assistance to survivors of an earthquake inBihar.^[3] In 1937 and 1938 she made a statistical study ofmaternal mortality in Bombay.^[9] She was a founding member and president of the Bombay Obstetric and Gynaecological Society,^[2] and president of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI).^[4] and from 1947 to 1957 president of the Association of Medical Women in India (AMWI). She wrote in favor of sex education and healthy recreational options to limit unplanned pregnancies.^[3] In 1950 she presided at the 6th All India Obstetric and Gynaecological Congress, held inMadras.^[2]

Jhirad was also a pioneer ofProgressive Judaism; after attending mixed-gender prayers at theJewish Religious Union (JRU), she returned to Mumbai and founded a JRU-affiliated congregation among the Bene Israel with her sister Leah in 1925.^[10]

• "Medico-social work" (1929)^[11]
• "Maternal Mortality" (1936)^[12]
• "Report on an investigation into the causes of maternal mortality in the city of Bombay." (1941)^[9]
• "Uterine Inversion" (1946)^[13]
• "Women in the Medical Profession" (1960)^[14]
• "Practical aspects of birth control" (1963)^[15]
• "Role of legalization of abortions in population control" (1964)^[16]
• "Careers for Medical Women in India" (1964)^[17]
• "Ante-natal diagnosis" (1966)^[18]
• "Obstetrics Then and Now" (1968)^[19]

In 1945, Jhirad was awarded anMBE by the British government. In 1947, she was elected a Fellow of theRoyal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.^[3] In 1966, she was awarded thePadma Shri.^[1] TheVenusian crater Jhirad was named after her.^[20]

Jhirad wrote a short autobiography in 1975, which informed her niece's biography of her,A Dream Realised: Biography of Dr Jerusha J. Jhirad (1990).^[21] She died in 1984, aged 93 years.^[4]

• 1891 births
• 1984 deaths
• 20th-century Indian women scientists
• 20th-century Indian medical doctors
• Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine
• Bene Israel
• Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom)
• Medical doctors from Mumbai
• Jewish scientists
• 20th-century Indian women medical doctors
• Jewish women scientists
• Jewish physicians
• Indian justices of the peace
• Indian obstetricians
• Indian gynaecologists
• People from Shimoga district
• 20th-century Indian Jews
• Members of the Order of the British Empire

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2018
• Articles with hCards