Dr Joan Y Reede

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.

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Dr Judith Martin Cadore

“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.”

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Dr JudyAnn Bigby

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.

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Harriet Hayden

Harriet Bell Hayden, a prominent abolitionist and activist, sheltered freedom seekers in her home on Beacon Hill and dedicated her life to advocating for equal rights for all.

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Dr Jeannette E South-Paul

When Dr. Jeannette E. South-Paul was appointed chair of the University of Pittsburgh department of family medicine in 2001, she became the first woman and the first African American to serve as a permanent department chair at the university.

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Dr Margaret Morgan Lawrence

In 1948, Dr. Margaret Lawrence was the first African American to complete a residency at the New York Psychiatric Institute and the first African American trainee to be certified in psychoanalysis at Columbia University’s Columbia Psycoanalytic Center. In 1953, she was the first practicing child psychiatrist in Rockland County, New York and co-founder of the Rockland County Center for Mental Health in New York.

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Dr Georgia Rooks Dwelle

In 1900, Dr. Georgia Dwelle was the first Spelman College graduate to attend medical school. In 1920, she established the first obstetrical “lying-in” hospital for African American women in Atlanta. In 1935, she established the first venereal disease clinic for African Americans in Georgia and founded the first “Mother’s Club” for African American women in Georgia.

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