Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania & Female Medical College of Pennsylvania

The Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania was founded on April 8, 1848, to teach homeopathy, a gentle system of medical treatment developed in the early 1800s by the German physician and medical reformer Samuel Hahnemann that sought to reinforce the body's power to heal itself. In 1869, the college was renamed in honor of Dr. Hahnemann, and in 1885 it united with its hospital to become Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia. The institution taught its last class in homeopathy in the 1950s as it moved into the mainstream of modern medicine, received university status from the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 1981, and was renamed Hahnemann University the following year. The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania was founded on March 11, 1850, largely by Quakers, as one of the first medical schools in the world for women. In 1867 its name changed to the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, which became the longest surviving women's medical school in the United States. In 1970 it became the co-educational Medical College of Pennsylvania, and over its long history it trained thousands of practitioners from across the country and the world, including hundreds of international medical missionaries. Hahnemann and MCP merged in the mid-1990s and were renamed MCP Hahnemann University a few years later. In 1998, Drexel University agreed to assume operation of MCP Hahnemann, and in 2002 Drexel's board of trustees unanimously voted to merge with MCP Hahnemann University, adding a College of Medicine, College of Public Health, and College of Nursing and Health Professions. These colleges continue the heritage of their predecessor institutions, while the Legacy Center at Drexel collects and maintains their historical records and special collections on women in medicine and homeopathy.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States