Sarah E. Simonet, the first woman graduate of Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, was born on July 25, 1854 in Schoharie County, New York. She was the daughter of Irish immigrants and lived in Croghan, NY, a tiny town at the western edge of the Adirondacks.
Simonet lived in Croghan for 12 years before she studied pharmacology in Albany and medicine in Buffalo. She married Augustine Simonet in November of 1871 when she was 16 or 17 and over the next six years, they had four children together. Simonet enrolled at ACPHS when she was 26 years old and graduated in 1883 in a class of 21 students – 20 men and one woman. At this time, the pharmacy program was just two years old.
She and her husband owned a general store, and not long after Sarah’s graduation, they added a pharmacy. Two years later she went on to graduate from the University at Buffalo as a physician. Simonet went on to open offices in Croghan and Utica and was held in high esteem by Croghan which now has a historical marker that stands in her honor. She combined the practice of pharmacy with the practice of medicine and was completely dedicated to caring for a medically underserved population.
To learn more about Sarah E. Simonet and Women’s History at ACPHS visit Women's History at ACPHS.
Written by Angelina Reisch, first-year student in the PharmD program and DEI work-study student