A Salute to Antonia Novello

I told you I would do a blog about the first Female Surgeon General in the Dr. Joyce Elders Salute blog. I came across the information by accident when researching Dr. Elders. Why is she virtually unsung? Who knows?

Antonia Novello was the 14^th Surgeon General of the United States of America. Born in 1944 in Puerto Rico, she held a clinical appointment in pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital in 1976. In 1979, Novello joined the Public Health Service and received a commission in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC). She became project officer at the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. In 1982 she received MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Novello made major contributions to the drafting and enactment of the Organ Transplantation Procurement Act of 1984 while assigned to the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, working with the staff of committee chairman Orrin Hatch. She also served as Coordinator for AIDS Research for NICHD from September 1987. This role caught the attention of the White House.

Novello was appointed Surgeon General by President George H. W. Bush, beginning her tenure on March 9, 1990. She was the First woman and the First Hispanic to hold the position. As Surgeon General, her focus was on the health of women, children and minorities, as well as on underage drinking, smoking, and AIDS prevention. She often criticized the tobacco industry for appealing to the youth market through the use of cartoon characters like Joe Camel. Like most Surgeon General she was not without controversy. Abortion Right advocates were outraged by her support of a policy prohibiting family planning program workers who received federal financing from discussing abortion with their patients. Novello’s tenure end with the election of President Bill Clinton. He praise her work with the adjectives "vigor and talent".

After her position as Surgeon General, Novello became United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Special Representative for Health and Nutrition from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 she became Visiting Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. In 1999, Novello was appointed as the Commissioner of Health for the State of New York. She served until 2006. Since 2008, Novello has been vice president of Women and Children Health and Policy Affairs at Disney Children’s Hospital at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida.

So this is a Salute to Antonia Novella, the First woman to become Surgeon General. She opened the door for two ladies to follow her and more to become in future. Hats off to you Dr. Novello.

As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms