Black Medical Pioneers Continued

 The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), shared an article celebrating Black medical pioneers. Below is a list of some of these trailblazers - to learn more, be sure to visit their website here.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was a medical pioneer who helped pave the way for numerous Black physicians today. In 1891, Dr. Williams opened the first desegregated hospital, and performed the first successful open heart surgery in 1893. In 1895, he helped to organize the National Medical Association (NMA) for Black professionals who were barred from the American Medical Association (AMA). In 1913, he became the first African-American to be inducted into the American College of Surgeons.

Presently, the NMA continues to serve as a collective voice for Black physicians and the leading force for parity and justice in medicine and the elimination of disparities in health. In 1964, the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) was founded as a sub-division of the NMA, largely through the effort and support of W. Montague Cobb, MD, an NMA member (and, later, NMA President), who spearheaded the initiative to include medical students in the association's ranks. NMA recognized the need to give active support to medical students and encourage them in the pursuit of careers as physicians.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman in the United States to receive an MD degree, after years as a nurse. She earned that distinction at the New England Female Medical College in Boston, Massachusetts — where she also was the institution’s only black graduate. After the Civil War, Crumpler moved to Richmond, Virginia, where she worked with other black doctors who were caring for formerly enslaved people in the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Crumpler also wrote A Book of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts. Published in 1883, the book addresses children’s and women’s health and is written for “mothers, nurses, and all who may desire to mitigate the afflictions of the human race.”

Dr. James McCune Smith was a man of many firsts. In 1837, he became the first black American to receive a medical degree — although he had to enroll at the University of Glasgow Medical School because of racist admissions practices at U.S. medical schools. He was also the first black person to own and operate a pharmacy in the United States and the first black physician to be published in U.S. medical journals. 

Dr. Charles Richard Drew, also known as “the father of blood banking,” pioneered blood preservation techniques that led to thousands of lifesaving blood donations. Drew’s doctoral research explored best practices for banking and transfusions, and its insights helped him establish the first large-scale blood banks. Drew directed the Blood for Britain project, which shipped much-needed plasma to England during World War II. Drew then led the first American Red Cross Blood Bank and created mobile blood donation stations that are now known as bloodmobiles. But Drew’s work was not without struggle. He protested the American Red Cross’ policy of segregating blood by race and ultimately resigned from the organization.

Dr. Louis Wade Sullivan, was the only Black student in his class at the Boston University School of Medicine. From 1966-1975 he served as a member of their faculty, before becoming a founding dean of what became the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1975 — the first predominantly black medical school opened in the United States in the 20th century. Later, Sullivan was tapped to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he directed the creation of the Office of Minority Programs in the National Institutes of Health’s Office of the Director.

Dr. Alexa Irene Canady, became the first Black neurosurgeon in the United States, and just a few years later, she rose to the ranks of chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. 

Although not a doctor, a woman pivotal in changing medicine was Henrietta Lacks! Henrietta Lacks was a Black woman whose cancer cells were unknowingly donated to Johns Hopkins Hospital for research, and are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. To learn more about Henrietta Lacks, be sure to check out The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.