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.
“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.”
Dr. Judith S. Kaur has devoted her career to the improvement of survival rates for American Indians with cancer. Although she had planned to return to the reservation after medical school to practice medicine, she has instead devoted her career to scientific research. Fascinated with the study of cancer, she now makes her contribution to the health of American Indian populations at the forefront of medical science.
Judith Flores, M.D., developed an award-winning bilingual, bicultural asthma management program that reached out to New York City’s Hispanic community in Brooklyn. The program has improved the quality of life for people with asthma and reduced the severity of asthma attacks.
JudyAnn Bigby, M.D., served as director of the Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and is nationally recognized for her pioneering work educating physicians on the provision of care to people with histories of substance abuse.
Katherine A. Flores established two programs to encourage disadvantaged students to pursue careers in medicine, which provide academic support and health science enrichment to young people who might not otherwise be successful in their educational experiences—or be thinking about medical careers.
Dr. Kathleen Annette was the first woman in the Minnesota Ojibwe Nation to become a physician and the first woman in the Bemidji Indian Health Service to serve as an area director.
With a special interest in the benefits of a traditional American Indian diet, family practitioner Kathryn A. Morsea, M.D., incorporates traditional healing practices into her patient care as a practitioner of family medicine in Gallup, New Mexico.