had published a collection of poems in 1887, but now she joined the Poets' Guild, publishing her poems under the pen name Sergei Gedroits in such journals as Bright Light, Covenants, and The Theosophical Gazette, among others. Her cultural companions included her former professor, Vassili Rozanov; writers such as Nikolai Gumilev, Razumnik Ivanov-Razumnik, and Aleksey Remizov; and the artist Julius von Klever. In 1910, Gedroits privately published the anthology Стихи и сказки (Poems and Fairytales) in St Petersburg, and though the critical response was not enthusiastic, that same year she published Страницы из жизни заводского врача (Pages from the Life of a Factory Doctor). Interested in providing support for young writers, in 1911, she paid half the costs to establish the journal Гиперборей (Hyperborea). In parallel, Gedroits was compiling a thesis based on research from her factory days. She successfully earned her doctorate of surgery, the first woman to achieve the distinction from the University of Moscow, on 11 May 1912, after defending her thesis Отдаленные результаты операций паховых грыж по способу профессора Ру на основании 268 операций (Long-term results of inguinal hernia operations using the protocol of Professor Roux based upon 268 operations). The thesis was dedicated to Roux and , a Russian surgeon who had been supportive to her work. She published a second volume of poetry, Вег (Veg, representing the beginning letters of her names and possibly inspired by the German Weg meaning "way") in 1913. Once again the critical response, though improved, noted the lassitude and lack of passion in the verse. Her Chinese Tales was published in Precepts magazine in 1913 and a collection of folk poems titled the Red Angel was published in 1914. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Gedroits worked on equipping the hospital and preparing the staff for war. For example, nurses first learned how to dress wounds and prepare the various bandages, dressings, and equipment that would be needed for treatment, before being trained for surgical support. She taught nursing techniques to the Tsarina and her daughters, Olga and Tatiana, and they became assistants to her in her surgical operations. One of the other nurses she trained at Tsarskoye Selo, Countess Maria Dmitrievna Nirod, would later become Gedroits' life-long partner. Raising funds from the nobles, the hospital was equipped to enable rapid treatment, so that soldiers would not have to be sent to Petrograd, as St. Petersburg