Abraham Flexner (1866-1918), American educator. Flexner's scathing attack on the American higher education system in his book The American College (1908) won the attention of Henry Pritchett, president of the Carnegie Foundation. Pritchett asked Flexner to lead a study of American medical education, and two years later the Flexner Report was published. On the basis of this research, the training system was reformed. Higher admission and graduation standards were implemented, and teaching became fully university-based. Teaching and research had to be of a particular standard, and concern itself only with mainstream science. Many schools were forced to close as a result of the report.