Dr. Antonia Novello was the first Hispanic and the first woman to serve as surgeon general.[1] She was born on August 23, 1944 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.[2] Novello graduated high school at 15 and went to the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Pedras, graduating with a bachelor’s in 1965 and a medical degree in 1970.[2] She then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan to intern at University of Michigan Medical Center.[2] She was the first woman at the University of Michigan to be named Intern of the year.[1]
Novello served as Congressional Fellow for the Labor and Human Resources Committee, where she helped draft the Organ Transplantation Procurement Act of 1984 and assisted with drafting Surgeon General Warnings for cigarettes.[1,2] In 1986 she gained the title of deputy director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, where she was an advocate for AIDS research, especially for women and children with AIDS.[1,2] As Surgeon General, she continued to have a focus of pediatric AIDS and preventing underage smoking, drinking, and drug abuse.
To learn more about Dr. Antonia Novello:
https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_239.html