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.
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.
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.
Dr. Kelly R. Moore has expanded her clinical practice to take on more community issues, in the hope that her contribution can improve the overall health of American Indian and Alaskan Native populations. She is a captain in the United States Public Health Service, and a pediatrician with the Indian Health Service.
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.