Anandi Gopal Joshi was a pioneer who graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in the class of 1886.
Joshi’s accomplishment is remarkable not only because she was one of the first South Asian women to graduate from a university, but because she was among the very few women who were able to earn a medical degree in the United States at all.

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman physician to graduate in 1849, and by the time Joshee came to study in 1883, there were still only a handful of colleges or universities that allowed women to study medicine.

"After Joshi was awarded her degree in medicine, the college’s dean wrote of her achievement to Queen Victoria, who was also Empress of India. Victoria reportedly wrote a congratulatory message in response. Joshi received a grand welcome upon her return to India, where the editor of the Kesari newspaper hailed her as ”one of the greatest women of our modern era”.

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