Outstanding Black Physicians and Other Health Professionals in American History

An attempt to create a list of the best or most important or most accomplished people in any field will be met with questions about why certain individuals were excluded or, indeed, why some were even included. No list of this type will ever satisfy everyone. However, the thought about who the best physicians are and were is often raised, and it certainly is pertinent in a book on blacks in medicine. We sometimes refer to standout physicians in terms of their demonstrated ability to overcome adversity while accomplishing enormous gains in their careers, against all odds in many cases. Many are called visionaries. What metrics should we use? Often the term “great” is used to describe an individual physician’s attributes. However, if greatness can be defined as extraordinary competence sustained over time, many of those who had only a relatively brief opportunity to demonstrate their expertise would not make the list, although their singular accomplishment may have been groundbreaking. So perhaps a broader criterion should be used, one that does not require a long-term application of medical prowess. I would like to suggest what that overarching criterion should be: it is the unequivocal impact that an individual physician has had in saving and rescuing the lives and health of African American and other minority, vulnerable, needy, and impoverished people, and contributing in a measurable manner to their health and well-being, either by involvement as a medical practitioner, researcher, educator, or academic standout or through leadership and activism as a champion for social justice.