Notable African Americans in Medicine & Healthcare.

First African American woman to earn a medical degree in the United States (1864)

• Dr. Mary Edwards Walker
• Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
• Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
• Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte

Pioneering cardiac surgeon who performed one of the first successful open heart surgeries (1893)

• Dr. Michael DeBakey
• Dr. Paul Dudley White
• Dr. Norman Shumway
• Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

Developed revolutionary blood plasma storage techniques and organized first large-scale blood bank.

• Dr. Jonas Salk
• Dr. Paul Farmer
• Dr. Edward Jenner
• Dr. Charles Drew

First African American woman to become a Registered Nurse in the United States.

• Harriet Tubman
• Sojourner Truth
• Rosa Parks
• Mary Eliza Mahoney

First African American woman astronaut who was also a medical doctor.

• Dr. Jeanette Epps
• Dr. Jessica Watkins
• Dr. Yajaira Mendez
• Dr. Mae C. Jemison

Name of African American woman whos immortal cell line (HeLa cells) that revolutionized medical research.

• Henrietta Lacks
• Mary Jackson
• Dorothy Vaughan
• Katherine Johnson

First African American woman to receive a patent for a medical invention (Laserphaco Probe for cataract surgery)

• Bessie Blount Griffin
• Marie Maynard Daly
• Alice Ball
• Patricia Bath

African American Female Physician that pioneered techniques in cardiac surgery despite lacking formal medical education.

• Vivien Thomas

• Dr. Charles Drew
• Dr. James McCune Smith
• Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

First African American Female Physician that pioneer in chemotherapy research and cancer treatment protocols.

• Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
• Dr. Susan McKinney Steward
• Dr. Virginia Apgar
• Dr. Jane Wright

First Female African American Physician Assistant in the United States.

• Loretta Ford
• Rebecca Lee Crumpler
• Mary Eliza Mahoney
• Joyce Nichols