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Dr. Ildaura Murillo-Rohde – #DiversityInHealthcare

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Dr. Ildaura Murillo-Rohde, PhD, RN, FAAN, is best known as the founder of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.

Born in Panama in 1920, Dr. Ildaura Murillo-Rohde arrived in the U.S. in 1945 and began her nursing career in San Antonio, Texas. Despite the largely Hispanic population of San Antonio, she found few Hispanic nurses serving the community.

This experience promoted her determination to obtain a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing at New York’s Columbia University. She continued with her education and obtained a Master and Doctorate. In 1971, Dr. Murillo-Rohde was the first Hispanic nurse awarded a PhD from New York University.

In the 1970s Dr. Rohde secured a federal position reviewing research and educational grants. She encountered the same experience as in San Antonio: no Latina nurses in academic settings in research or in public policy, and she was motivated to make change.

Murillo-Rohde became an associate dean at the University of Washington and was the first Hispanic nursing dean at SUNY. Murillo-Rohde founded the National Association of Spanish-Speaking Spanish-Surnamed Nurses (NASSSN), known as the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) after 1979, and served as its first president.

Dr. Murillo-Rohde was dedicated to the Hispanic population in her work as a psychiatric nurse and focused on cultural awareness in nursing practice. Her vision was to assist Latinas in securing their education to provide service to their community and in helping themselves.

Dr. Ildaura Murillo-Rohde passed away in 2010 in her native Panama. NAHN awards a scholarship and an educational excellence award in her honor.

Info sources: https://www.nahnnet.org/NAHN/About/History/NAHN/Content/History.aspx?hkey=45d72c12-d9fb-4a57-860a-5053827c9649
http://nahnnet.org/NAHN/Content/Ildaura_Murillo-Rohde.aspx

Photo source: http://nahnnet.org/NAHN/Content/Ildaura_Murillo-Rohde.aspx

Post written by Stefanie Lapka.

Dr. Antonia Novello – #DiversityInHealthcare

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Dr. Antonia Novello broke two barriers in 1990 when she became Surgeon General of the United States: she was both the first woman and the first Hispanic person to hold the office.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Novello grew up with a chronic health condition. She also had an aunt who died of kidney failure. These were her inspirations for becoming a pediatrician specializing in nephrology. She attended medical school at the University of Puerto Rico and continued her training at the University of Michigan.

Prior to her stint as the nation’s top authority on public health, she had a big impact working at NIH on pediatric AIDS and organ transplant legislation. As Surgeon General, she focused on improving the health of women, children, and minorities. This included a campaign to end cigarette advertisements aimed at children, and raising awareness about AIDS.

Read more about Dr. Antonio Novello as you celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Info source: https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_239.htmlWhen
Photo source: https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/static/img/portraits/239.jpg

Dr. Patrice Harris – #DiversityInHealthcare

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This week’s #DiversityInHealthcare highlight is psychiatrist Dr. Patrice Harris. Dr. Harris was the first African-American woman to be elected as president of the American Medical Association – in 2019.

Hailing from West Virginia, she knew at an early age that she wanted to be a physician. Despite this, a guidance counselor advised her to go to nursing school. She decided to major in psychology instead and went on to graduate from the West Virginia University School of Medicine. She completed her residency and fellowship at Emory University.

Dr. Harris has an extensive history of leadership, having served extensively with the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, advocated with various legislative bodies, and held the position of director of Health Services for Fulton County, Georgia.

We salute her impressive CV and constant advocacy for children.

Sources: https://www.patriceharrismd.com/aboutindexhttps://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/generalprofessionalissues/84916
Photo source: https://www.patriceharrismd.com/aboutindex

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler – #DiversityInHealthcare

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Throughout the fall semester, we will be highlighting #DiversityInHealthcare on our social media. This week we are focusing on Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African-American woman physician in the U.S.

Born Rebecca Davis in Delaware on February 8, 1831, Rebecca was raised by an aunt in Pennsylvania, who spent much of her time caring for the ill and may have influenced her career choice.

By 1852 she had moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she worked as a nurse for the next eight years. In 1860, she was admitted to the New England Female Medical College. When she graduated in 1864, Rebecca was the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree, and the only African American woman to graduate from the New England Female Medical College (the school closed its doors in 1873.).

A few statistics help put her remarkable achievement in perspective. In 1860, there were only 300 women out of 54,543 physicians in the United States and none of them were African-American. As late as 1920, there were only 65 African-American women doctors in the United States.

Dr. Crumpler practiced in Boston for a short while before moving to Richmond, Virginia, after the Civil War ended in 1865. She joined other black physicians caring for freed slaves who would otherwise have had no access to medical care, working with the Freedmen’s Bureau, and missionary and community groups, even though black physicians experienced intense racism working in the postwar South.

In 1883, Crumpler published A Book of Medical Discourses from the notes she kept over the course of her medical career. Dedicated to nurses and mothers, it focused on the medical care of women and children.

No photos or other images survive of Dr. Crumpler. The little we know about her comes from the introduction to her book, a remarkable mark of her achievements as a physician and medical writer in a time when very few African Americans were able to gain admittance to medical college, let alone publish. Her book is one of the very first medical publications by an African American.

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler died on March 9, 1895.

https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_73.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/celebrating-rebecca-lee-crumpler-first-african-american-physician

Post written by Stefanie Lapka.

Anna Louise James – #DiversityInHealthcare

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As the first African American woman graduate of the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, and the first female African American pharmacist in the state of Connecticut, Anna Louise James is considered one of the first female African-American pharmacists in the country.


She was born in 1886 in Hartford, and eventually took over her brother-in-law’s pharmacy in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. James Pharmacy was a town staple until her retirement in 1967.

More info: https://connecticuthistory.org/anna-louise-james-makes-history-with-medicine/

Photo source: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork20006904/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:345433/catalog

Dr. Joycelyn Elders – #DiversityInHealthcare

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Dr. Joycelyn Elders grew up in rural and segregated Arkansas. She didn’t even meet a doctor until she was 16 years old, but she heard a speech by Dr. Edith Irby Jones while she was in college and decided to become a physician. She is an Army veteran who attended medical school on the G.I. bill.

Dr. Joycelyn Elders standing at podium
She worked in the realms of both clinical practice and research and was the first person to be board certified in pediatric endocrinology in the state of Arkansas. In 1993, she was appointed and confirmed as the fifteenth Surgeon General of the United States – the first African American and second woman to hold that position.

While she was a controversial figure during her time as Surgeon General, she was always able to spark conversation about previously taboo topics in the name of improving adolescent health.

She spoke on race and health at UH this past November where I was able to take this photo. What an honor to have such a role model here on campus!

More information is available here: https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_98.html

Dr. Patricia Bath – #DiversityInHealthcare

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This week’s #DiversityInHealthcare highlight is ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Bath.

Dr. Patricia Bath portrait

Patricia Bath was born in 1942 in Harlem. She was inspired by Dr. Albert Schweitzer and her own family physician, Dr. Cecil Marquez, to pursue a career in medicine. She attended medical school at Howard University, had a fellowship at Columbia, and completed her residency at NYU.
The “firsts” achieved by Bath are too numerous to name, but among them are being the first African-American Ophthalmology resident at NYU, inventing the discipline of community ophthalmology, becoming the first woman on the faculty at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute, co-founding the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, and inventing the laserphaco probe and method for removing cataracts. WOW.
Dr. Patricia Bath spent her long and illustrious career working to reduce racial disparities in ophthalmic care and in doing so was able to restore sight to people who had been blind for over 30 years.

More info is available at https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_26.html

Photo source: https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/static/img/portraits/26.jpg

Dr. Mae Jemison – #DiversityInHealthcare

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Throughout the fall semester, we will be highlighting #DiversityInHealthcare on our social media. This week we are focusing on Mae Jemison.

Dr. Mae Jemison in space suit

Mae Jemison is best known as the first African-American woman in space, taking part in the STS-47 mission in September of 1992.
Prior to her time at NASA, Jemison attended medical school at Cornell and worked as a general practitioner. She also served as a medical officer in the Peace Corps for two+ years. Much of her work since NASA has focused on biotechnology and furthering STEM education for children.
Dr. Jemison has an impressive career, and she is also an informative and inspirational speaker. I had the opportunity to sit front and center for her John P. McGovern Award Lecture at the 2015 Medical Library Association meeting, and it was both fun and thought-provoking.
Dr. Mae Jemison, breaking barriers – on Earth and beyond – since 1956.

More info is available at https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_168.html

Photo source: https://images.nasa.gov/details-S92-40463