Born into a family of physicians, Zerefeh often accompanied her father and older brothers in their clinics. She noticed that the patients were predominantly men, as many of the women would not expose themselves to physicians, who were exclusively male. This prompted her to decide on a career in medicine for herself – a noteworthy feat, given that males during this time in the Ottoman Empire typically did not study past the 5th grade, and females would end their studies in the 2nd grade.[4]