Dr. Preston Reynolds joined the faculty of the Division of General Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care at UVa in July 2007 as a tenured professor.  Prior to moving to Virginia, she spent a year at the University of Chicago as a clinic fellow in ethics and several years in government in charge of the Title VII Primary Care Training Program. Preston has served as full-time faculty at Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, and Eastern Virginia Medical School where she held the position of Chief of General Medicine, Vice-Chair for Education of the Department of Medicine, and Associate Director of the Center for Generalist Medicine.

She is an honors graduate of Duke University where she received her undergraduate degree in history, a Masters and PhD in history, and also her MD.  Upon graduation from medical school, she received the Thomas Jefferson award voted by her peers and faculty for outstanding leadership and academics. The Johns Hopkins Hospital then became her home for three years where she completed her internal medicine residency and served as president of the JHH House Staff Society Council.  In that role, she spearheaded a hospital-wide initiative on residency reform.

Preston has held numerous national leadership positions; as national president of the American Medical Student Association; as founding member and chair of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Council of Associates and member of the ACP Board of Regents and the ACP Health and Public Policy Committee, as Chair of the Human Rights and Education Subcommittees of Society of General Internal Medicine’s Health Policy Committee, and for fifteen years as member of the board of directors of Physician for Human Rights (PHR).  During her tenure on the PHR board of directors, the organization was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its role as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). During these early and critical years, PHR also developed the reputation as the leading scientific human rights investigative organization in the world with recognition by the WHO, United Nations, and other national and international human rights groups.

In her work as a resident leader, fellow and then faculty member, Preston has tirelessly pushed for reform of medical education and residency training to promote professionalism as the primary goal of physician education. She spearheaded a national campaign beginning in the early 1990s to reform medical education and the medical licensing system to foster continuous learning and professionalism among trainees and practicing physicians with many of these initiatives now becoming national priorities among stakeholder organizations and professional societies. Preston has lectured on the subject of professionalism at universities in the US, Europe and South Africa, and is recognized nationally and internationally for her contributions in this area.

Preston’s area of research for more than 30 years has focused on the history of race discrimination in healthcare and medical education.  She has published and lectured on the subject, received major funding from the NIH and national foundations, and won awards for her scholarship. She currently is writing a book on the history of healthcare for blacks in the Carolinas, and revising a comprehensive guide to resources on the history and contributions of African American to the health professions.

Most recently, Preston has been involved in the effort to bring genetics into generalist clinical practice and national policy efforts to reform health care in this country.  Again she has been recognized for her leadership with national awards and distinguished committee appointments.