Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Ann PRESTON
First woman graduate of the University of PA School of Medicine, founder of Women's Medical College of PA, later Medical College of PA, Henry Avenue, Germantown, Phila.
Ann Preston was a pioneer woman doctor who devoted her life to medical education for women.
Born in 1813 in West Grove, Pennsylvania, the oldest daughter and second of nine children, Ann grew up in a family of abolitionists. She attended a Quaker school in West Grove and later a Quaker boarding school in West Chester. Needed at home because of the ill health of her mother, Ann became involved with the Clarkson Anti-Slavery Society in her free time. Through these activities she met Lucretia Mott, with whom she established a life long friendship. After her brothers grew up, she taught school and wrote stories and poems for children.
In 1847, at the age of 34, she enrolled herself as an apprentice in the office of Dr. Nathaniel Mosely. After two years of apprenticeship she began applying to medical colleges but she was turned down because she was a woman. In 1850, a group of Quakers organized the first women’s medical college at 227 Arch Street, called the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. Ann Preston enrolled in the first class and graduated the following year. In 1853, she was appointed professor of physiology and hygiene and in 1866, she became dean of the College- the first woman to hold this post. Under her leadership, the College trained the first African American and the first Native American woman doctors in the country.
Ann died in 1872 and was buried at Fair Hill, though her grave was later moved to West Grove.
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