Devastated by the death of her mentor following childbirth, Evangelina decided to devote her life to women’s health. It took a decade to raise the money to go to Paris, which was then the mecca of medical training, but she never gave up. At the age of 42 she boarded a steamship to France. Amidst the post-war scene of France's Roaring Twenties, she studied obstetrics and gynecology with leading specialists and started to absorb modern ideas about public health. Her goal: to return home and revolutionize Dominican healthcare.