As a bilingual physician and educator, Dr. Flavia Mercado teaches the value of cultural competency. More than sharing a language, cultural competency requires that physicians are aware of cultural differences and treat all patients respectfully, an ideal Mercado instills in every medical student she teaches.
A practicing obstetrician-gynecologist in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Frances McLemore Fisk, M.D., considers herself an advocate for the rights of the patient and firmly believes in the importance of viewing health care problems within the wider context of each individual’s circumstances.
In 1987, Frances Owl-Smith M.D., became the second physician and first woman physician of the Eastern Band of Cherokee.
G. Valerie Beckles-Neblett, M.D. organizes medical missions to Haiti and Honduras, two of the poorest countries in the world. Along with the other doctors she recruits for her trips, Dr. Beckles treated thousands of people — many who had never visited a doctor before.
Sue Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, is a physician-scientist who led the development of the first gene-targeted drug for treating breast cancer.
In 2002, she was named co-director of New York’s Hispanic Center of Excellence at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She also has worked to establish a self-sustaining peer-run network aimed at the Hispanic adolescent male, to promote health and prevent disease with community-based support.
In 1975, Dr. Ethel Allen became the first African American councilwoman elected to an at-large seat on the Philadelphia City Council.
She entered the Navy Nurse Corps in March 1909 and served in Naval medical facilities in the United States and in the Philippines during the years prior to World War I. She was a Chief Nurse at Navy Base Hospital # 1, in Brest, France, in 1918-19, and served as an Assistant Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1923-30. Subsequent assignments included duty at Great Lakes, San Diego, and Philadelphia.
From 1992 to 1994 she served as president of the New Mexico Hispanic Medical Association.
Dr. Elizabeth O. Ofili was the first woman president of the Association of Black Cardiologists.