Dr. Joycelyn Elders

Joycelyn Elders, a Philander Smith College alumna and pediatric endocrinologist, became the first African American U.S. Surgeon General. As Arkansas health director and then Surgeon General she pressed prevention, sex education, and care for poor children.

• First African American U.S. Surgeon General (1993–1994).
• Former director of the Arkansas Department of Health.
• Inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame in 1993.