Flexner biography

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Author of the monumental survey Medical Education in the United States and Canada (1910), Abraham Flexner contributed to a period of reform in American medical education that hastened the closing of commercial medical schools and strengthened university-affiliated institutions adopting scientific approaches.

A Louisville, Kentucky, native who earned his A.B. degree at Johns Hopkins University, Flexner established his own preparatory school in Louisville. However, he gained prominence as an educator through his critical essays, surveys, and reports about American educational institutions and practices.

Throughout the early twentieth century, Flexner's ideas wielded influence through the sponsorship and largesse of powerful corporate foundations. Finally, from 1930 through 1939, Flexner designed and directed the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.

Early Learning and Teaching Experiences

Born into a poor but ambitious family, Flexner developed