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Office of Minority Health National Black History Month - February
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Patricia Bath
 1942-
Ophthalmologist, Inventor
Throughout her life, Bath overcame prejudices of her gender, race and the pitfalls of extreme poverty in Harlem, N.Y., to become a doctor. Her passion for preventing blindness led her to develop the Cataract Laserphaco Probe. Bath became the first black female doctor to hold a patent for a medical invention. Before Bath’s invention, doctors would use a drill-like device to grind away cataracts from the patient’s eye. Bath harnessed the power of lasers to remove cataracts and increase surgical accuracy, forever transforming the field of ophthalmology.
Black History Makers in Health
Bessie Blount Griffin
 1914-2009
Physical Therapist, Inventor, Forensic Scientist
Born in Virginia, Griffin's skills were vital during World War II. Trained as a physical therapist, her work with injured soldiers led her to invent a device that allowed people in wheelchairs, amputees and those on bed rest, to feed themselves by biting down on a feeding tube to release food. Although she received patents for her inventions, she wasn't able to successfully market them to the United States Veteran's Administration. Undeterred, she sold her patents to the French government where her invention was widely used. Later, Griffin became a forensic scientist, verifying the authenticity of pre-Civil War papers.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Leonidas Berry
 1902-1995
Internist, Author
Born in North Carolina, Berry’s pursuit of education led him to the University of Illinois Medical School and degree in pathology. He spent some time at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., before returning to Chicago to become the first black internist at Cook County Hospital. Berry was also one of the first Americans to use the flexible gastroscope and helped create the Eder-Berry gastroscope in 1936, allowing doctors to take tissue samples with minimal invasion. This led to the discovery that excessive alcohol abuse eroded the liver and not the stomach, as was previously believed.
Black History Makers in Health
Emmett W. Chappelle
 1925-
Biochemist, Photobiologist, Astrochemist, Inventor
Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Chappelle headed East to work for NASA in 1966, where his career as a biochemist involved harnessing laser-induced fluorescence to sense vegetation health. Although his work for NASA was used to enhance work done in space, his work also impacted medicine. Chappelle developed a way to detect bacteria in urine, which improved doctors’ ability to diagnose urinary tract infections. This same technique is also used to detect bacteria in blood, semen, spinal fluids, drinking water and food. Chappelle holds 14 U.S. patents and is an avid mentor of young people.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Keith Lanier Black
 1957-
Neurosurgeon, Researcher, Educator
With a natural curiosity for how the brain works and his studies in the medical field, Black helped advance the field of neurosurgery. While in his teens, Black was performing heart-valve replacement surgery on dogs. At age 17, his first research paper about the damage done to red blood cells in patients with heart-valve replacements was published, resulting in him receiving the Westinghouse Science Award. With his parents' encouragement and an education at the University of Michigan, Black later found ways for drugs to be directed to tumors in the brain, helping to save lives and provide hope.
Black History Makers in Health
William Augustus Hinton
 1883-1959
Bacteriologist, Pathologist, Educator
An instructor of preventive medicine and hygiene at Harvard University, Hinton was the first black instructor at the university and later went on to teach about bacteria and the immune system. He later developed a syphilis test that was so accurate, it was used by United States Public Health Service instead of current tests of the time. In 1936 Hinton's book "Syphilis and Its Treatment" was published, which was the first medical textbook by a black American.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Jane Cooke Wright
 1919-
Physician, Researcher
The oldest daughter of medical pioneer Dr. Louis T. Wright, Dr. Jane Wright graduated from New York Medical College with honors in 1945. By 1949, Wright had joined her father, who was then director of the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital. She led patient trials using chemotherapy and anti-cancer chemicals targeting leukemia and lymphatic cancers, which was still experimental at that time. In 1952, when her father died, Wright became the head of the Cancer Research Foundation. Her research, teachings and dedication shaped the field and practices of cancer research and treatment.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Percy Lavon Julian
 1899-1975
Chemist
A native of Alabama and the grandson of a slave, Julian pursued an education in chemistry, resulting in a doctoral degree and a lifetime of research. In 1933, he discovered ways to use plants to create medicine to treat the eye disease, glaucoma, improve the memory of Alzheimer’s patients and cure the effects of nerve gas. His research would later lead to the development of cortisone and birth control pills. With his education in chemistry and pursuit of entrepreneurship, Julian successfully filed for more than 130 chemical patents during his lifetime.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Louis W. Sullivan
 1933-
Physician, Hematologist
Becoming a doctor was a lifelong goal for Sullivan. Upon realizing his dream he worked at prestigious medical schools and founded the Boston University Hematology Service at Boston City Hospital and later was director of the Boston Sickle Cell Center. To many people's surprise, Sullivan left Boston to become the founding dean and director of the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Ten years later it had become a fully-accredited four-year medical school and now ranks highly in turning out graduates who go on to work in primary care practices.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
 1856-1931
Surgeon
After a two-year apprenticeship and three years of medical school, Williams opened his own medical practice in Chicago to serve patients of all races. His strict adherence to sterilization bolstered the survival rates. In 1893 he performed one of the first successful heart surgeries. Williams opened the chest of young man with stab wounds to the heart, which was considered dangerous at the time, and repaired the internal damage, using antiseptic on his wounds. The man fully recovered. At the time, the success of internal surgery and closing the chest cavity was nonexistent.
Black History Makers in Health
Myra Adele Logan
 1908-1977
Physician, Surgeon
With her family’s roots in medicine, Logan continued the tradition, studying at Harlem Hospital under Dr. Louis T. Wright and becoming the first woman to perform open heart surgery, only the ninth to do so in the country. Later she developed a slower-processing X-ray that allowed doctors to better detect breast cancer at an earlier stage. The Tuskegee, Ala., native's research on breast cancer and antibiotics helped saved numerous lives.
Black History Makers in Health
Solomon Carter Fuller
 1872-1953
Psychiatrists, Neurologist
Well known for his pioneering research on dementia and mental illness, Fuller became the nation's first black psychiatrist, leading interest in these topics of study and later helped create the neuropsychiatric unit at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Ala., training the doctors who went on to head the department. A psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, his understanding of indicators of syphilis helped diagnose veterans who were previously misdiagnosed with behavior problems. Fuller taught at the Boston University School of Medicine for more than 30 years.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Louis T. Wright
 1891-1952
Surgeon
Wright's studies took him from LaGrange, Ga., to Clark University to Harvard Medical School, where he graduated fourth in his class in 1915. Denied openings at major hospitals, he took an internship at the Freedmen's Hospital before serving as a captain and physician in the Army during World War I. After returning to the U.S., he became the first black surgeon on the staff at Harlem Hospital and the first black staff member at any hospital in New York. He was the first clinician to study the effects of Aureomycin on humans and later became the first black physician to head a public integrated hospital. In his lifetime, Wright wrote 91 medical papers.
Black History Makers in Health
Charles Richard Drew
 1904-1950
Surgeon, Scientist, Educator
A surgeon and researcher of blood transfusion, Drew's major contribution to science and medicine was the development of the storage of human blood until it is needed to save someone's life. He researched the nature of human blood and created what has become known as a "blood bank," places where blood is kept in a special form (plasma) until needed by injured patients. In 1940, during World War II, the British asked Drew to establish a blood bank program for their country, which saved thousands of lives. After that, he was appointed the first director of the American Red Cross Blood Bank, supplying plasma to U.S. armed forces.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. William Edward Allen, Jr.
 1903-1981
Physician
Allen spent his lifetime focused on the science and professional use of the x-ray, which was discovered in the late 1800s. He organized one of the nation's first approved training schools for African American x-ray technicians at St. Mary's Infirmary in St. Louis, Mo., which would be the first of three schools he would established over his lifetime, one of which exclusively trained women. In 1935, one year after the American Board of Radiology examinations were established, he became the first African-American, certified x-ray technician. By the late 1930s Allen had established one of the first approved residencies in radiology for minorities.
Black History Makers in Health
Otis Boykin
 1920-1982
Inventor
With a background in electronics, Boykin may be best known for his improvements to an
electrical resistor that is used in computers, radios and televisions, but it is his
invention of pacemaker controls that has impacted the health of millions. During his lifetime,
Boykin patented 28 electronic devices.
Black History Makers in Health
Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.
 1951-
Pediatric Neurosurgeon
Carson was the first surgeon ever to successfully separate twins joined at the back of the head. He has
also performed surgery on the brains of babies who were still in the womb, alleviating the child’s seizures.
National African American History Month
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America.
February is recognized as Black History Month and has been celebrated since 1926. It first began as Negro History Week during the second week of February when Dr. Carter G. Woodson wanted to bring to light the omission of accomplishments by blacks in history books. He chose that week because it coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
And although black people have continued to make strides and shape the United States, health rates on average for chronic diseases, infections and death have taken a toll on the population. Some health problems are caused by your genes, but most of the top "killers" are behavior related. The everyday decisions that are made about food consumption and physical activity affect your health. And health affects productivity.
The time for New Year's resolutions may have come and gone, but February can be the month to renew the commitment to be a better you, to get the info you need to make smart health decisions that will help you live longer, healthier and happier. Getting plugged into health events in your community -most of which come at a relatively low cost or are free to participants - will give you the opportunity to make black history instead of being black history.
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