Penn Medical University

Penn Medical College was founded by Dr. Joseph S. Longshore in 1853,[1] but the name was changed to Penn Medical University in 1854.[2] It was among the first medical colleges to admit both men and women but they attended separate sessions (fall term for women, spring term for men).

The school held classes in several locations in Philadelphia over the years, including Franklin Hall (on Sixth Street below Arch Street), the Thirteenth and Arch Streets, then 419 Market Street. In 1857, it moved to Twelfth and Chestnut Streets, then three years later to 910 Arch Street. At the Arch Street home a dispensary was opened in 1860, and in 1862 a dental department was established. In 1874, the school moved to its final location at 1131 Brown Street. The school closed in 1881.[2] In 1853 the school awarded the Honorary Doctor of Medicine degree to Samuel Gregory who had founded Boston's New England Female Medical College five years earlier.

The Penn Medical University catalog for the year 1860 lists 27 female graduates including Dr. Elizabeth D. A. Cohen.[3][better source needed]

  1. ^ Gardner, Martha N. (2002). Midwife, Doctor, or Doctress? The New England Female Medical College and Women's Place in Nineteenth-century Medicine and Society. Doctoral dissertation, Brandeis University.
  2. ^ a b Abrahams, Harold J. (1966). Extinct Medical Schools of Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press. Print.
  3. ^ U.S., School Catalogs, 1765-1935. Penn Medical University of Philadelphia.