Education
The first African American licensed nurse to work professionally in the United States. She is also renowned for her support and advocacy for African American nurses.
Mary Eliza Mahoney
This neurosurgeon and professor led a medical team that became the first to separate Siamese twins successfully.
Ben Carson
He was denied admission to American colleges because he was Black, but he was able to attend the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and medical degrees by age 24. He was the first Black physician to be published in U.S. medical journals, where he pioneered the use of medically based statistics as evidence against notions of racial inferiority.
Dr. James McCune Smith
Second black inventor issued a patent.
Henry Blair
She was the only African American, nurse, and laboratory technician that worked on the U.S. Army Medical Corp penicillin project at the University of Minnesota. She played a pertinent role in the cure for the fatal scarlet fever epidemic and other diseases that soldiers in World War II were getting.
Mattiedna Johnson
He was a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He is known for creating the foundation for steroid drugs to create cortisone, corticosteroids and birth control pills.
Dr. Percy Julian
She became the first Black female physician in the United States when she graduated from the New England Female Medical College in 1864. Her book of Medical Discourses, published in 1883, was one of the first publications about medicine written by an African American.
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
He founded the Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses in 1891. In 1893, he performed the first successful open-heart surgery without the benefit of blood transfusions or modern surgical procedures.
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
This biochemist worked for NASA and discovered a method for detecting bacteria in water, food, and body fluids
emmit w. chappelle
Known for being a fervent abolitionist, who escaped slavery, she was also a nurse. After being granted her freedom, she worked at the National Freedman's Relief Association in Washington, D.C. where she advocated for nursing education and formal training programs.
Sojourner Truth
An American pediatrician and public health administrator who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1993 to 1994. She was the first African American to serve as Surgeon General; and best known for her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization and distributing contraception in schools.
Minnie Joycelyn Elders
In 1941, he established the American Red Cross blood bank and served as its first director. He is also known as the "Father of the Blood Bank" for discovery of a method for long-term storage of blood plasma.
Dr. Charles Drew
Developed the disposable syringe.
Phil Brooks
Marilyn Gaston
Self-educated scientist, astronomer, inventor, writer, and antislavery publicist. He built a striking clock entirely from wood, published a Farmers' Almanac, and actively campaigned against slavery.
Benjamin Banneker
An American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. She was selected for the STS-47 mission, during which she orbited the Earth for nearly eight days in September 1992.
Dr. Mae Carol Jemison
He developed the Belzer kidney perfusion machine that preserves a kidney for up to 50 hours from the time it is removed from a donor’s body. The device is standard equipment in hospitals and laboratories worldwide. He was also the first to perform a successful kidney transplant between two humans who weren’t twins.
Dr. Samuel Kountz
From 1965 to 1966, funded by Dow Chemical, Johnson & Johnson, and the U.S. Army, he conducted what was deemed “dermatological research” on approximately 75 prisoners; but what was actually being studied was the effects of Agent Orange on humans.
Dr. Albert Kligman
Worked with her father at the Cancer Research Foundation in Harlem where they focused on looking at chemotherapy drugs that led to remissions in patients with leukemia and lymphoma. She created an innovative technique to test the effect of drugs on cancer cells by using patient tissue rather than laboratory mice.
Jane Cooke Wright
She is known as a thought-leader. She CEO, The Memo LLC, a career development platform that inspires women in all stages of their professional development. She authored articles such as 5 Key insights on Racial Trauma in the Workplace; and believes each manager should commit to equity--voted 2020 LinkedIn Top Voice for Equity in the Workplace.
Minda Harts
In 1973, she became the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. In 1988, she received a patent for her invention of the Laserphaco Probe.
Dr. Patricia Bath
first African American female to hold a patent for a software invention
Janet Emerson Bashen
Known for inventing a portable air-cooling unit for trucks carrying perishable items. His invention was used during World War II to preserve blood, medicine and food to be used at Army hospitals and on open battlefields.
Fredrick Jones