Margaret Hamburg, one of the youngest people ever elected to the Institute of Medicine (IoM, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences), is a highly regarded expert in community health and bio-defense, including preparedness for nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. As health commissioner for New York City from 1991 to 1997, she developed innovative programs for controlling the spread of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Maria Isabel Herran, M.D., has devoted herself to international health, refugee children, and the development and regulation of international adoption.
Maria J. Merino, M.D., chief of the Surgical Pathology Section of the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, is internationally recognized for her work in anatomic pathology.
In 1997, Dr. Laura Williams became the first Native American woman physician to become a faculty member in the University of California system.
As a teenage mother, Laurie McLemore was told she would not be able to become a physician. Despite the lack of encouragement she received from academic advisors, and the challenges of raising a family whilst building a career, she went on to complete premedical training with honors and was offered a scholarship to attend medical school.
Dr. Lena Edwards was one of the first African American women to be board-certified as an obstetrician-gynecologist as well as to gain admission to the International College of Surgeons. Throughout her career she served the poor, lobbying for better health care for anyone who needed it, regardless of what they could afford.
Dr. Beard uses today’s mass communications technologies—television, the Internet, and print media—to reach her patients in their homes. Though Dr. Beard still values the one-on-one relationship with patients in her pediatrics practice, she also sees herself as a health educator, with the ability to reach millions of people at once.
Her contribution to the affairs of Whangārei during her several interwoven careers was that of a capable and sensible person.
In 2001, Dr. Joan Reede was appointed Harvard Medical School’s first dean for diversity and community partnership. She is the first African American woman to hold a position of that rank at HMS and one of the few African American women to hold a deanship at a medical school in the United States.
“As one who personally experienced segregated health care,” says Judith Martin Cadore, M.D., “I do not want any of my patients to ever have to wonder if they are receiving the best possible care, feel too intimidated to ask questions, or be denied proper care because of their ethnic or economic backgrounds.”