Dr. Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill earned her doctor of medicine degree at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1899, making her the second Native American woman in the United States to hold an M.D. degree (Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first). She used her professional status to help other Native Americans, working at public clinics and dispensaries and at a school for Native American children.
Lucille Perez, M.D., was associate director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. She was a leading authority on substance abuse and HIV prevention, and headed the internationally renowned Faculty Department Program at CSAP.
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.
May Cottrell published more than 1,000 articles in 13 countries.
Her contribution to the affairs of Whangārei during her several interwoven careers was that of a capable and sensible person.
During many years of public service, Gill devoted herself to providing community services in Palmerston North, particularly for those who most needed them.
Richmond published slim volumes of poetry in 1898, 1903 and 1942. She was a prolific writer of letters, articles and sermons, and of songs, plays and stories for children.
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.
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.