This document profiles several pioneering African American medical professionals. It describes Dr. James McCune Smith as the first African American to earn a medical degree in the United States. It also discusses Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler as the first African American woman to earn a medical degree and Dr. Mary Eliza Mahoney as the first African American nurse. Additionally, it mentions Dr. Daniel Hale Williams' accomplishment of performing the first successful heart surgery and Dr. Regina Benjamin's election as the first Black woman president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama.

1. By Latagia Copeland-Tyronce B.S., A.S.
AFRICAN AMERICAN
MEDICAL PIONEERS

2. DR. JAMES MCCUNE SMITH
First African-American to Earn a Medical
Degree
Dr. James McCune Smith was the first African-
American to earn a medical degree and
practice medicine in the United States. He
was also the first to own and operate a
pharmacy, in New York City. At the age of 25,
just returned from medical school in
Scotland, Smith rose at the annual meeting of
the American Anti-Slavery Society and spoke
out against slavery, telling the crowd of
abolitionist support in Europe.

3. DR. REBECCA LEE
CRUMPLER
FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN TO
EARN A MEDICAL DEGREE
Dr. Crumpler was the first African American
woman to earn a medical degree. She devoted
her life to improving health in the black
community through research and clinic work.
When the Civil War ended, she realized that
whole communities of newly-freed blacks in
the South would urgently need medical care.
So she left her Boston home and medical
practice and moved to Richmond.

4. MARY ELIZA MAHONEY, RN
FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN NURSE
Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first Black
professional nurse in America. Known for her
calm and quiet skill, she, nonetheless,
mounted the stage at a 1909 nursing
conference in Boston to call for direct action
to correct the stark inequalities faced by
African-American nurses.

5. DR. DANIEL HALE
WILLIAMS
FIRST SUCCESSFUL HEART SURGERY
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams founded Provident
Hospital in Chicago, the first black-owned
hospital in America. He is also credited with
the world’s first successful heart surgery,
conducted in Chicago in 1893. On a summer
night, a young man arrived at Provident with
a stab wound to the heart. When the patient
went into shock, Williams decided to operate.

6. DR. REGINA BENJAMIN
FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO BE ELECTED TO
THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE
OF ALABAMA
After Dr. Regina Benjamin received her medical
degree from the University of Alabama at
Birmingham, she returned to her Gulf Coast
hometown, Bayou la Batre, and opened a small
rural health clinic; for 13 years, she was the town’s
only doctor. In 1995, at the age of 39, Benjamin
became the first Black woman, and the first
person under the age of 40, to be elected to the
American Medical Association Board of Trustees,
and in 2002, she became the first Black female
president of the Medical Association of the State of
Alabama.

7. DR. WILLIAM AUGUSTUS
HINTON
INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED
RESEARCHER AND THE FIRST BLACK
DOCTOR TO TEACH AT HARVARD
Dr. William Augustus Hinton, the son of
former slaves, became the first black
professor at Harvard Medical School and
gained an international reputation for his
medical research. As a young man, he boldly
declined the offer of a Harvard medical
scholarship reserved for African-American
students in order to compete for a
scholarship open to students of all races.

8. DR. ALEXA CANADY
FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FEMALE
NEUROSURGEON
In 1976, at age 26, Dr. Alexa Canady became the
first Black female neurosurgeon in the United
States when she was accepted as a resident at
the University of Minnesota. In 1986, after four
years at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan,
Canady became chief of the hospital’s
neurosurgery department. In 1993, she
received the American Women’s Medical
Association President’s Award. Canady’s
research in neurosurgical techniques resulted
in the invention of a programmable antisiphon
shunt, which is used to treat excess fluid in the
brain. She shares a U.S. patent for the device
with two other neurosurgeons.

9. DR. JANE COOKE WRIGHT
FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FEMALE
PRESIDENTOF NEW YORK CANCER
SOCIETY
Dr. Jane Cooke Wright’s father set the bar pretty high
by being one of the first Blacks to graduate from
Harvard Medical School, the first Black doctor on staff
at a New York City municipal hospital and New York’s
first Black police surgeon. However, Jane Cook Wright
successfully emulated his example. In 1964, President
Lyndon Johnson appointed her to the President’s
Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke. In
1967, at the age of 48, Wright became professor of
surgery, head of the cancer chemotherapy
department, and associate dean at New York Medical
College. These accomplishments made her the
highest-ranking Black woman at a nationally
recognized medical institution. In 1971, Wright also
became the first female president of the New York
Cancer Society.

10. DR. M. JOYCELYN ELDERS
FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN
APPOINTED SURGEON GENERAL OF THE
UNITED STATES
In 1961, 28-year-old Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders
became the chief resident at the University of
Arkansas, leading a charge of white, male
residents and interns. She was the first person
in the state of Arkansas to be board certified in
pediatric endocrinology. In 1987, Gov. Bill
Clinton appointed Elders head of the Arkansas
Department of Health, and in 1993, President
Bill Clinton appointed her the 16th surgeon
general of the United States. She was the first
Black person and the second female to hold this
position.

11. DR. BEN CARSON
REVOLUTIONIZED NEUROSURGERY
Dr. Ben Carson is one of the most famous and
respected doctors in the world. Since the 1980s,
his surgeries to separate conjoined twins have
made international headlines, and his pioneering
techniques have revolutionized the field of
neurosurgery. Carson also has become a role
model for people of all ages, especially children.
He went from the inner-city streets of Detroit to
the halls of Yale University, to director of pediatric
neurosurgery at one of the most prestigious
hospitals in the United States. In 2004, Carson was
awarded the Healthcare Humanitarian Award.

12. DR. CHARLES DREW
PLASMA RESEARCHER
Dr. Drew, physician, researcher, and surgeon,
forged a new understanding of blood plasma
that allowed blood to be stored for transfusions.
As World War II began, Drew received a
staggering telegram request: "Secure 5,000
ampules of dried plasma for transfusion." That
was more than the total world supply. Drew met
that challenge and found himself at the head of
the Red Cross blood bank -- and up against a
narrow-minded policy of segregating blood
supplies based on a donor's race.

13. DR. CHARLES DEWITT
WATTS
Dr. Watts spent more than 50 years
advocating for civil and human rights and for
the quality of medical care for all residents of
Durham, especially the poor and
underserved. He broke racial barriers when
he pushed for certification of black medical
students.

14. DOROTHY BOULDING
FEREBEE, M.D.
Dorothy Boulding Ferebee, M.D., was born
Norfolk, Virginia. She graduated from Tufts
Medical College at the age of 37 and as with
many young health care professionals of African
descent born during that tense racial era, this
consistent honor roll student was denied
professional access into predominantly white
hospitals. Determined, she moved to
Washington DC for an internship at Freedmen’s
Hospital (now Howard University Hospital). Dr.
Ferebee was actively involved in countless
organizations until her death at the age of 90.

15. SAMUEL L. KOUNTZ, M.D.
as an African American kidney transplantation
surgeon from Lexa, Arkansas. He was most
distinguished for his pioneering work in the field of
kidney transplantations, and in research, discoveries,
and inventions in Renal Science. In 1961, while
working with Dr. Roy Cohn at the Stanford University
Medical Center, he performed the first successful
Kidney transplant between humans who were not
identical twins. Six years later, he and a team of
researchers at the University of California, San
Francisco, developed the prototype for the Belzer
kidney perfusion machine, a device that can preserve
kidneys for up to 50 hours from the time they are
taken from a donor's body. It is now standard
equipment in hospitals and research laboratories
around the world.

16. IN CONCLUSION
I salute each and every one of these extraordinary
healthcare professionals. These great individuals have
opened the door for other African Americans to walk
through. Moreover, they have saved countless lives in the
process. Their work and accomplishments often go
unnoticed but it is no less astonishing.

17. REFERENCES
http://blerds.atlantablackstar.com/2014/09/24/11-african-
american-medical-pioneers-will-make-proud/3/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/partners/early/e_pioneers_txt.
html
http://www.blackdoctorscolumbusohio.com/black_medical_histor
y.htm