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Patricia
Bath graduated from the Howard University School of Medicine
in 1968 and completed specialty training in ophthalmology
and corneal transplant at both New York University and
Columbia University. In 1975, Bath became the first
African-American woman surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center
and the first woman to be on the faculty of the UCLA Jules
Stein Eye Institute. She is the founder and first president
of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.
Patricia Bath was elected to Hunter College Hall of Fame in
1988 and elected as Howard University Pioneer in Academic
Medicine in 1993.
Mae Jemison
Mae Carol Jemison is an American physician and NASA
astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to
travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space
Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. After her medical
education and a brief general practice, Jemison served in
the Peace Corps from 1985 to 1987, when she was selected by
NASA to join the astronaut corps. She resigned from NASA in
1993 to form a company researching the application of
technology.
Toledo Area
Female African-American Physicians and Dentists
There are, perhaps, as many as 20 Toledo area black, female
physicians and dentists in all manner of specialties. These
are some of them:
Dr. Karen Adams-Ferguson, MD,
an obstetrician/gynecologist, is a Toledo native from a
legendary local family. Her mother, Dr. Samantha Adams, was
the Toledo area’s first female African-American chiropractor
and a former president of the Toledo School Board. Her
siblings include former Toledo Public School administrators
Cecelia Adams (now a school board member) and Denise Adams
Onyia.
Dr. Adams earned her undergraduate degree from The
University of Toledo and her medical degree from The Ohio
State University.
Her practice is located at A Woman’s Answer on Monroe
Street.
Dr. Michelle Boose, MD,
MPH, is a family medicine physician. A graduate of Notre
Dame Academy, Dr. Boose earned her undergraduate degree from
Kent State University and her medical degree from UT’s
College of Medicine in 2008. She completed her residency at
the Flower Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program in
2011. She is a recipient of the local 20 Under 40 Award.
Dr. Boose practices with ProMedica and is on the board of
the ProMedica Physicians and Continuum Services as well as
the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Board.
Dr. Louito Edje, MD,
is a family medicine physician and director of the Toledo
Hospital Family Medicine Residency – the first female
African-American program director there and was the youngest
chief of staff in the 100-year history of the Hospital.
Dr. Edje entered Michigan State University at the age of 16
and earned a degree in physiology. She received her medical
degree from the University of Michigan becoming the first
female and first minority president of her medical school
student body.
She currently serves on the St. Luke’s Hospital Board of
Directors, the Toledo Children’s Hospital Board and is the
chairman-elect of the UM Medical Schools Admissions
Committee.
Dr. Debra Fulton, DDS,
graduated from Case Western Reserve School of Dentistry in
Cleveland in a class that contained only three African
Americans and she was the only female African American. A
Youngstown, OH native, Dr. Fulton majored in chemistry at
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and worked as a
chemist for four years in Akron for General Tire and Rubber
Company before enrolling in dental school.
She landed in Toledo to join the practice of longtime
African-American dentist Dr. Franklin Duffy as he was
nearing retirement. She would take over when he did in fact
retire. Her offices are on West Laskey Road.
Dr. Anita Lewis-Sewell, MD
is a Toledo native and graduate of Scott High School. She
earned her undergraduate degree from UT in communications
and her medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio (now
the UT College of Medicine). She is a family practice
physician who has worked with the Neighborhood Health
Association, prior to a move to Fremont to work for the
Community Health Services.
Dr. Lewis-Sewell is currently a UT health educator and
writer on health issues. She has been a project director for
numerous Minority Health Month seminars, conferences and
health fairs.
Dr. Hope Mitchell, MD,
a dermatologist with offices (Mitchell Dermatology) in
Perrysburg, is the only black dermatologist – male or female
– in northwest Ohio. Her private practice has a staff of a
dozen women – nurse, medical assistants, receptionists,
billing manager.
A New York City native, Dr. Mitchell earned an undergraduate
degree at the University of Rochester, where she would meet
her future husband, attorney Richard Mitchell of Toledo.
They came to Toledo to earn advanced degrees and start a
family. After working for a local dermatology firm, she
formed her own firm about 10 years ago.
Dr. Taiwo Ngo, DDS,
a native of Nigeria has a dental practice in the Toledo area
that includes three different offices. A graduate of the
University of Michigan Community Dental Health Program, Dr.
Ngo comes from a family of medical professionals. Her father
is a pediatrician and her mother a radiologist – both U.S.
citizens who reside in Nigeria.
Dr. Ngo’s twin sister is a pediatrician in California,
another sister is a pharmacist in Dayton and a brother is an
ear, nose and throat specialist.
She and her husband Gift, who earned his MBA in finance from
Case Western Reserve, formed the Midwest Dental Center LLC
13 years ago on Alexis Road and have since expanded to
Lagrange Street and Airport Highway.
Dr. Anyse Storey, MD,
is a urologist with a private practice on Heatherdowns Blvd.
She is the only African-American female urologist in
northwest Ohio.
Dr. Storey, a native Clevelander, attended Mt. Holyoke
College in Massachusetts where she earned a bachelor’s of
arts degree, the University of Cincinnati’s Department of
Biomedical Communications for an advanced degree before
returning to Cleveland to earn a medical degree from Case
Western Reserve.
She arrived in Toledo for her internship and residency at
the Medical College of Ohio and was the first female in that
urology residency program – “the last male bastion in
medicine,” she has said.
Dr. Storey stayed in Toledo to join St. Vincent’s Hospital
staff and has affiliations at most of the area hospitals.
Dr. Traci Watkins, MD,
is a family practice physician with ProMedica Physicians
Westgate Medical Group and is currently the lead physician
with that group.
Dr. Watkins, married to local attorney Pariss Coleman,
earned her undergraduate degree from the University of
Michigan with a bachelor’s of science and psychology, and
her medical degree from OSU, after which she did her
residency with the Toledo Hospital. She has been on staff at
Toledo Hospital and Flower Hospital since 1999.
She has served on or participated in more than a dozen
boards and activities with ProMedica over the years and been
active in an equal number of community boards and
activities.
Dr. Jenny Zamor, DO,
is an obstetrician/gynecologist who just recently joined A
Woman’s Answer on Monroe Street. From Queens, NY, Dr. Zamor
earned her medical degree from Ohio University College of
Osteopathic Medicine. She performed her internship at Summa
Health in Akron and her residency in obstetrics and
gynecology at O’Bleness in Athens, OH.
She has been in practice for 16 years. |
