The ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú (AAN) was established in 1948. While only a few women participated in the early years, some women had leadership roles, including at the first scientific meeting.

Mabel Masten was born in 1897 in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. After graduating from Rush Medical College in 1925, she was the first female intern and neuropsychiatry resident at the University Hospitals in Madison. Following graduation, she joined the neuropsychiatry department at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and was the first woman appointed to staff, where she left the question “Wife’s maiden name” blank on her faculty information sheet. Masten became a rotating chairperson of the neuropsychiatry department in 1946.

Masten was an early mentor of Dr. Francis Forster, a founding father of the AAN. During the first bi-annual AAN meeting in French Lick, Indiana, in 1949, she was the only woman committee member, serving on the Committee on Public Relations. Masten was the first woman named a “fellow” member. She was named to the editorial board of Neurology at its founding in 1950.

Masten was appointed as a full professor in 1950 and had multiple roles at the University of Wisconsin and in the community. She was actively involved in care and treatment of patients with exceptional needs while publishing multiple manuscripts and a textbook. In 1955, Masten joined the Veterans Administration Department of Medicine in Miami. She died at age 73.