In honor of Black History month, we celebrate some of the trailblazing Black Americans who broke through racial barriers to contribute to the health care system in the United States.

James McCune Smith (1813–1865)

First Black American male doctor

Dr. Smith had a keen interest in languages, mastering Latin, Greek, and French. Smith traveled abroad to earn his medical degree after no American university would admit him. When he returned to New York City in 1837, he established his own medical office and pharmacy at 93 West Broadway — making him the first Black male doctor with a practice in the U.S.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895)

First Black American female doctor

In 1864, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black woman in the United States to receive an MD degree. She earned that distinction at the New England Female Medical College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she also was the institution’s only Black graduate. After the Civil War, Crumpler moved to Richmond, Virginia, where she worked with other Black doctors who were caring for formerly enslaved people in the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Daniel Hale Williams (1856–1931)

Co-founder of the National Medical Association and the first Black physician admitted to the American College of Surgeons

Daniel Hale Williams earned a medical degree and started working as a surgeon in Chicago in 1884. Dr. Williams opened the nation’s first Black-owned interracial hospital. On July 10, 1893, Williams successfully repaired the pericardium of a man who had been injured in a knife fight. The operation is the first documented successful open-heart surgery on a human, and Williams is regarded as the first Black cardiologist.

Solomon Carter Fuller (1872–1953)

First Black psychiatrist and pioneer of Alzheimer’s disease research

Solomon Carter Fuller earned his medical degree in 1897 from Boston University. In 1904, he began pioneering work with the psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in Germany, studying the traits of dementia. Dr. Fuller was the first to translate much of Alzheimer’s work into English. In 1912, he published the first comprehensive review of Alzheimer’s cases.

Charles Drew (1904–1950)

Surgeon, researcher. Established the American Red Cross Blood Bank

As a surgeon, Dr. Charles Drew developed innovative ways to store blood plasma in blood banks. He found that plasma could be preserved or “banked” much longer than whole blood. His work as the director of the first blood bank project in Britain during World War II helped to save thousands of lives. He also established the American Red Cross blood bank and served as its director starting in 1941. He quit after the Red Cross insisted on segregating the blood of Black people.

Jane Cooke Wright (1919–2013)

Cancer research and treatment pioneer

After earning her medical degree, Dr. Jane Cooke Wright worked alongside her father at the Cancer Research Foundation in Harlem, which her father established in 1948. Together, father and daughter researched chemotherapy drugs that led to remissions in patients with leukemia and lymphoma. In 1952, Wright became the head of the Cancer Research Foundation at age 33. The New York Cancer Society elected Wright as its first woman president in 1971. Her research helped transform chemotherapy from a last resort to a viable treatment for cancer.

Louis Wade Sullivan (b. 1933)

Founding dean, Morehouse School of Medicine

Dr. Louis Wade Sullivan grew up in the racially segregated rural South. The only Black student in his class at Boston University School of Medicine, he later served on the faculty. In 1975, he became the founding dean of what became the Morehouse School of Medicine — the first predominantly Black medical school opened in the 20th century. Later, he served as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he directed the creation of the Office of Minority Programs in the National Institutes of Health’s Office of the Director.

Jocelyn Elders (b. 1933)

First Black US Surgeon General

Dr. Jocelyn Elders was appointed as U.S. surgeon general in 1993 during the Clinton administration. She became a controversial leader because of her willingness to candidly discuss public health issues such as drug legalization, in-school distribution of contraception and healthy human sexuality.

Alexa Irene Canady (b. 1950)

Pioneering neurosurgeon

Dr. Alexa Irene Canady nearly dropped out of college due to a crisis of self-confidence but ultimately went on to achieve dramatic success in medicine. In 1981, she became the first Black neurosurgeon in the United States, and just a few years later, she rose to the ranks of chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan.