Alistar was born on 1 June 1873 in Vaisal commune, at the time in Ismail County, Romania (now in Odesa Oblast, Ukraine). According to some historical sources, she was of Bessarabian origin. She was born in a family of priest Vasile Bălan. Her mother was Elisabeta Bălan.[4][5] She graduated from primary school of Congaz of Cahul County, and then, attended the Chișinău Eparchial School. There she met the young theologian Dumitru Alistar. They married. After a while, her husband became a priest and she followed him. Since 1890, she worked as a teacher in the such villages as Văleni, Roșu, Zîrnești, Cahul, Rezeni, and Chișinău.[4] After her husband's death, she was encouraged by the journalist Mihai Vântu to leave for Iași, Romania. In 1909–1916, she attended the Medical Faculty of the University of Iași.[6] She was arrested for "nationalistic activity" together with the members of Daniel Ciugureanu's group. The group has claimed the need for forced liberation of Bessarabia from the Russian influence.[7] In 1916, she was recruited by the army as a military doctor. She continued to practice medicine at Costiujeni Hospital near Chișinău.
She was the member of the Moldavian National Party and was elected as an MP from the Cetatea Albă County for the Sfatul Țării.[8][9] She was one of the two women elected as MP, and actively took part in the political events that led to Bessarabia's unification with Romania. On 27 March 1918, she voted for the Union of Bessarabia with Romania. The other woman MP, Nadejda Grinfeld, was shot by the Romanian Army for opposing such an unification.
^Mariana Hausleitner: Deutsche und Juden in Bessarabien, 1814–1941: zur Minderheitenpolitik Russlands und Grossrumäniens. IKGS Verlag, 2005. p. 54. ISBN9783980888387
^Iurie Colesnic: Femei din Moldova: enciclopedie. Museum, 2000. p. 12. ISBN9789975905428
^Iurie Colesnic, Basarabia necunoscută. Articolul: Elena Alistar. Ed. Universitas, Chișinău, 1993, pp. 202–207. ISBN9789975905503
^Iurie Colesnic: Femei din Moldova: enciclopedie. Museum, 2000. p. 15. ISBN9789975905428
^Francisca de Haan, Krasimira Daskalova, Anna Loutfi: Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe: 19th and 20th Centuries. Central European University Press, 2006. p. 118.9. ISBN9789637326394