Anna Martha Fullerton (August 16, 1853 – September 16, 1938) was an American physician and medical educator, born in India.

Early life and education

Anna Martha Fullerton was born in

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

, the eldest of the seven children of American Presbyterian missionaries Rev. Robert Stewart Fullerton and Martha White Fullerton. She was 12 when her father died, and she moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with her widowed mother and younger siblings. She trained as a teacher, then attended the

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) was founded in 1850, and was the second medical institution in the world established to train women in medicine to earn the M.D. degree. The New England Female Medical College had been establishe ...

, studying obstetrics under Dr.

Anna Broomall Anna Elizabeth Broomall (March 4, 1847 – April 4, 1931) was an American obstetrician, surgeon, and educator who taught obstetrics at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She established the first maternal health and prenatal care clin ...

and graduating with a medical degree in 1882. One of her brothers was philosopher and psychologist

George Stuart Fullerton George Stuart Fullerton (August 18, 1859 – March 23, 1925) was an American philosopher and psychologist. Early life and education Fullerton was born at Fatehgarh, India, the son of the Rev. Robert Stuart Fullerton and Martha White Fullerton ...

Career

Fullerton joined the faculty of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania after she graduated, taught obstetrics and gynecology courses, and was physician-in-charge of the

Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia The Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia was established in 1861 to provide clinical experience for Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania students, a group of Quaker women, particularly Ann Preston. History Its purposes were to “establish in Phila ...

from 1886 to 1896. She had a private practice in Philadelphia for a few years, then returned to India in 1899, to teach at the

Christian Medical College Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, Christian community-run medical school, hospital and research institute. This Institute includes a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals in a ...

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...

, the first medical school for women in India. In 1902 she and her sister Mary started working toward raising funds and establishing a hospital at

Fatehgarh Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the south bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from ...

; the Fullerton Memorial Hospital for Women and Children opened in 1907. Fullerton wrote two nursing textbooks: ''A Handbook of Obstetrical Nursing for Nurses, Students, and Mothers'' (1891), and ''Nursing in Abdominal Surgery and Diseases of Women'' (1893). She also wrote a health textbook for schoolchildren in India, ''The Human Body and How to Take Care of It.'' She wrote on "Missionary Work and Public Health" for the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania Alumnae Association conference in 1900. That same year, her essay "The Woman Physician in India" was published in the college's alumnae journal. Fullerton and her sister Mary moved to

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

in 1911; she continued practicing medicine and midwifery there.

Personal life and legacy

In 1911, Fullerton spent some months in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, caring for her dying brother Edward. Her sister Mary died in 1931, and Fullerton died in 1938, aged 85 years, in Dehradun. Her papers are in the collections of

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

and the

Presbyterian Historical Society The Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) is the oldest continuous denominational historical society in the United States.Smylie, James H. 1996. ''A Brief History of the Presbyterians.'' Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press. Its mission is to col ...

.Guide to the Anna Martha Fullerton Papers
Presbyterian Historical Society.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fullerton, Anna Martha 1853 births 1938 deaths American physicians Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania faculty People from Agra