Mossell, Nathan Francis

Impact on the world

Became the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania's medical school and went on to found one of the first hospitals in Philadelphia owned and operated by African Americans, providing both medical care and training opportunities otherwise denied to Black physicians and nurses.

Life & background

A physician, Mossell became the first African American graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After facing exclusion from white hospitals and medical societies, he founded the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School in Philadelphia in 1895, providing a rare institution where Black physicians and nurses could train and practice freely.

Sources

1. PMC (Outstanding Black Physicians and Other Health Professionals in American History); University of Pennsylvania Archives; Penn Perelman School of Medicine (endowed professorship page)