U.S. National Institutes of Health

Audrey Forbes Manley, MD — public health (government)

Courtesy Parklawn Health Library

Dr. Audrey Forbes Manley (b. 1934) received a music scholarship to study at Spelman College in Atlanta. She took the opportunity to expand her education and interests, and moved into the sciences. She was appointed assistant surgeon general in 1988 and is the first African American woman to hold a position of that rank in the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1997, she returned to Spelman, after 40 years in medicine, to serve as president of the college.

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