Preston Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.P.
Professor of Medicine, General Medicine, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care
ppr8q@virginia.edu
Dr. Preston Reynolds is a graduate of Duke University where she studied history as an undergraduate, masters and doctoral student, and also medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency on the Osler Service at The Johns Hopkins Hospital before moving to the University of Pennsylvania for fellowship training in general internal medicine and medical education. For more than 30 years as a physician-historian, Dr. Reynolds has been studying efforts to eliminate discrimination and health disparities, and to racially integrate hospitals and health professions training schools throughout the country. As a physician-educator, she has spearheaded local, state and national initiatives on Medical Professionalism through her work with medical schools and residency training programs as well as with national and international organizations. As a physician-activist, Dr. Reynolds has advocated for health reform, generalist physician training, and global health and human rights. She is an active member of national and international scientific and professional societies, including Physicians for Human Rights, in which she served as a member of the board of directors from 1986-2001. Physicians for Human Rights was co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Dr. Preston Reynolds currently is Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care at the University of Virginia. She is focusing her research on the history of African Americans in the health professions while also contributing to the University community through lectures on ethics, professionalism, and global health and human rights, and through working with medical students and residents as a clinician-educator. Dr. Reynolds is engaged nationally as a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the American College of Physicians in the effort to reform health care in the US, to promote diversity and physician workforce reform, and to enhance the quality of healthcare for all Americans.
Her major books and articles focus on the history of race discrimination in healthcare and the racial integration of hospitals, reform of medical education and healthcare through a renewed commitment to medical professionalism, and the history and impact of federal programs designed to expand generalist physician and dental training in the United States. She has lectured both in the US and abroad on various topics based on her historical research and leadership roles in promoting medical professionalism and global human rights.