She was likely born in Kiev, studied in Saint Petersburg and was the first woman to become professor of surgery in the Russian Empire in 1918.

Later she took part in Russian Civil War and fled to Egypt just to find second home in Paris.

There she made a genetic and oncology research career discovering Brachyury gene in mice.

[4] According to other sources, during the civil war in Russia, she found herself in the ranks of the medical service of the "White Guard" , with which she retreated in 1920 to the Crimea.

[3] From there she emigrated on the steamer "Romania" through Turkey to Egypt, where she was in a camp for refugees from Russia near the town of Tel el-Kebir.