Seven Black Scientists & Physicians You Should Know About
In Public Health, Computer Science, & Statistics
Data science is a relatively new field, and the combination of public health data science is even more recent. So, this post will highlight the contributions of some African Americans in public health, statistics, and computer science. ✊🏾Happy Black History Month! ✊🏾
Dr. Uche Blackstock
Dr. Uche Blackstock is a physician and a health equity advocate. Most recently, she is known for her work with sounding the alarm early in the pandemic with how the COVID-19 pandemic would impact African Americans. Also, she is one of the voices pushing to eliminate gender-based violence, racism in healthcare, and institutional racism. Through her company, Advancing Health Equity, she works with healthcare organizations to dismantle institutional racism and health disparities. You can learn more about her bio and business here.
Bill Jenkins
William Carter Jenkins was a government epidemiologist who tried to call attention to and end the unethical Tuskegee Syphilis Study. He was horrified by the study and tried to report it, but no one listened to him initially. Eventually, he wrote an article about the study and shared it with doctors and journalists. Nothing came of this. After another researcher raised the issue of unethical conduct, it was shut down. After this, Bill dedicated his life to studying infectious diseases and social justice. He went on to earn a doctorate in epidemiology. At the CDC, he was the AIDS prevention for the minorities program director. You can read more about his life here.
Dr. Nwamaka Eneanya
Dr. Nwamaka Eneanya is currently an attending nephrologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Eneanya’s research interests focus on health equity among patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease. She is more recently known for uncovering algorithmic bias in the kidney transplantation process, resulting in African Americans taking longer than other groups to get on the kidney transplant waitlist. Her research has caused several academic medical centers across the country to stop using this algorithm during the kidney transplant process. Read more about the impact of her work here.
Reginald G. James
Dr. James was a Howard-trained physician. Also, he was the first Black student admitted to the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (now the Bloomberg School of Public Health). Also, he was the first Black graduate of Johns Hopkins University. He was also one of the first black people admitted to the DC Medical Society. He spent most of his career working at Freedmen's and Howard University hospitals and as a medical officer for the D.C. Welfare Department and the Social Security Administration. You can learn more about his life here.
David Harold Blackwell
David Harold Blackwell is known for his contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and Bayesian statistics. He taught at Howard from 1944 to 1954. Also, he was the chair of the Howard math department during his time at the University. He was the first African American inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. Also, he was the first black tenured faculty member at UC Berkeley. After his death, he was awarded the National Medal of Science. You can learn more about his life here.
Skip Ellis
Skip Ellis was the first black Ph.D. in Computer Science. In 1992, Ellis started working at the University of Colorado at Boulder and eventually became a full Professor of Computer Science and the Director of its Collaboration Technology Research Group (CRTG). His research focused on “groupware” and workflow systems to enable people to collaborate using computers. You can learn more about his career here.
William Darity, Sr.
William Darity was the first African American to graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health with a doctorate. He was known for his expertise in health behavior. He studied how health inequities are associated with high-risk behavior like smoking. He went on to be the founding Dean of the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health. He was also on the Board of Trustees for UNC-Chapel Hill. You can learn more about his life here.