This Black History Month, The Oregon Clinic is proud to celebrate the incredible accomplishments and lasting impact of Black pioneers in American medicine. The contributions and achievements of these women helped shape modern medicine as we know it today.
Rosalyn P. Sterling Scott, M.D. didn’t set out to make history, she just wanted to fix hearts. Dr. Scott is the first African American woman to be trained in thoracic surgery, the first African American woman to be granted membership in the Society of University Surgeons, and the first Mary A. Fraley Cardiovascular Surgical Research Fellow at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston.
After earning her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1970 and her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine in 1974, Dr. Scott chose thoracic surgery as her specialty, one of the most demanding fields in medicine.
In 1977, as a resident at Boston University Medical Center, she was the first African American woman in the United States to train in thoracic surgery. Her training involved years of 100-hour weeks, life-and-death decisions, and operating on the body’s most unforgiving organ. In 1980 Dr. Scott was named the first recipient of the Mary A. Fraley cardiovascular fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute. She went on to build an academic career at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, where she served as associate director of the general surgery residency program and vice chair for research. Her research focused on occupational stress in surgery residents and health disparities in cardiovascular and lung cancer care.
Scott was always acutely aware that she was opening doors. As a founding member of the Association of Black Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons and the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and as a former president of Women in Thoracic Surgery, she worked to raise the aspirations of students who felt intimidated by discrimination. Even decades after her training, the field she chose remains one of the least diverse surgical specialties. Her achievements continue to serve as a notable demonstration that individuals of all races and genders can achieve their objectives.