10 Facts About Ann Preston

Ann Preston was an American physician, activist, and educator.

Ann Preston began to attend lectures at the local lyceum, belonged to the local literary society, became a member of the Clarkson Anti-Slavery Society, and was active in the temperance and women's rights movements.

Once her younger siblings were old enough, Ann Preston began to work locally as a schoolteacher.

Ann Preston was privately educated in medicine as an apprentice to Dr Nathaniel Moseley from 1847 to 1849.

Unable to attend other medical schools because of their policies against admitting women, Ann Preston entered the Quaker-founded Female Medical College of Pennsylvania at the age of 38 as a student in its inaugural class of 1850.

Ann Preston graduated in 1851, one of eight women in her class.

Ann Preston returned to the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania the year following her graduation for postgraduate work, and became a professor of physiology and hygiene in 1853.

Ann Preston was the first woman to become the dean of a medical school, a position that allowed her to champion the right of women to become physicians.

In 1868, Ann Preston negotiated with Philadelphia's Blockley Hospital to allow students from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania to attend the general clinics there.

Ann Preston suffered a relapse the following year and died on April 18,1872.