Augusta Stowe-Gullen

Ann Augusta Stowe-Gullen (July 27, 1857 – September 25, 1943) was a Canadian physician, educator, and women's rights activist. In 1883, she became the first woman to earn a medical degree from a Canadian medical school, graduating from Victoria College in Cobourg, Ontario.

Early life

Augusta Stowe-Gullen was born Ann Augusta Stowe on July 27, 1857, in Mount Pleasant, Brant County, Canada West (now Ontario). She was the eldest of three children of the physician and women's rights activist Emily Howard Stowe and her husband, John Fiuscia Michael Heward Stowe; the couple also had two sons. Her graduation marked a major milestone in Canadian medical history: she became the first woman to receive a medical degree from a Canadian medical school. Her achievement also created the first mother–daughter medical team in Canada, as her mother, physician Emily Stowe, had previously trained in the United States after being denied admission to Canadian medical schools.

In popular culture

In "Jagged Little Pill" (November 7, 2016), episode 5 of season 10 of the Canadian television period detective series Murdoch Mysteries, Stowe-Gullen is shown supervising the operation of the Ontario Medical College for Women. Stowe-Gullen is played by Julie Khaner.