Elders earned a scholarship to the all-black liberal arts Philander Smith College in Little Rock, AR. In college she enjoyed biology and chemistry, but believed that lab technician was her highest calling. When Elders heard Edith Irby Jones, the first African American to attend the University of Arkansas Medical School, speak at a college sorority, Elders' decided to become a physician.
After college, Elders joined the Army and trained in physical therapy at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam in Houston, TX. After being discharged in 1956, she enrolled at the University of Arkansas Medical School with the help of her G.I. Bill. Although the Supreme Court declared separate but equal education unconstitutional two years earlier, Elders still had to use a separate dining room where the cleaning staff ate.
Over the next twenty years Elders combined her clinical practice with research in pediatric endocrinology, publishing papers mostly dealing with problems of growth and juvenile diabetes.
In 1987, Governor Bill Clinton appointed Elders head of Arkansas Department of Health. As she campaigned for clinics and expanded sex education, the Arkansas Legislature mandated a K-12 curriculum that included sex education, substance-abuse prevention, and programs to promote self-esteem.
From 1987 to 1992, she doubled childhood immunizations, expanded the state's prenatal care program, and increased home-care for the chronically or terminally ill. In 1993, President Clinton appointed Dr. Elders U.S. Surgeon General. During her fifteen months in office she faced skepticism regarding her progressive policies, yet continued to bring controversial issues up for debate. Dr. Elders is now retired from practice, but remains active in public health education.
Info from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/video/98_1_trans.html
No comments:
Post a Comment