Died 19 October 1901, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | ||
Hannah Longshore (May 30, 1819 – October 19, 1901) was a physician in the United States and the first woman to be appointed faculty of a US medical college, at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she was part of the first graduating class. She also taught at the New England Female Medical College and Pennsylvania Medical University before entering private practice.
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Personal life
Born to a Quaker family as Hannah Myers in Sandy Spring, Maryland in 1819, Longshore had six siblings. She married Thomas Ellwood Longshore - who was very supportive of her work - on 26 March 1841, with whom she had two children.
She died of uremia.
Career
Longshore received private medical training from her brother-in-law Joseph before being among the first class admitted to the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, which he founded, at the age of 31. After graduating, she was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at the college, making her the first female faculty member in a US medical college. She taught for a year at the New England Female Medical College, and worked for four years at the Pennsylvania Medical University.
During the course of her career, Longshore wrote and gave public talks (titled "Lectures to Women"), and saw approximately 40 patients a day at her clinical practice. At first she found difficulty after opening her practice; other doctors mocked her and pharmacists refused to fulfill her prescriptions.
Longshore eventually stopped teaching and lecturing in favour of focusing on her practice, where she worked for a further 40 years.