How the Flexner Report Changed Medicine

# Stuff You Should Know: The Flexner Report

In this episode, Josh and Chuck dive into the Flexner Report of 1910, a pivotal document that completely overhauled medical education in America—for better and worse. Abraham Flexner was tasked with evaluating all 155 medical schools across the US and Canada, and his scathing assessment led to the closure of more than half of them within just five years, transforming medicine from a poorly regulated trade into a rigorous science-based profession modeled after top European institutions. But while the report succeeded in producing better-trained doctors and saving countless lives, it also systematically eliminated medical schools serving Black students, shut down women's medical colleges, and wiped out alternative medicine practices like homeopathy that some argue had genuine healing value—consequences that still reverberate through healthcare disparities today.