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SPHIS Celebrates Black History Month & Public Health Pioneers
The Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences celebrated Black History Month by highlighting remarkable individuals who have made lasting impacts in public health.
Dr. Adewale Troutman
Adewale Troutman, MD, MPH, a towering pillar for public health, helped implement the prominent focus on social justice and health equity present in our current approaches to health promotion. From 2004 to 2010, Dr. Troutman was the director of the Louisville Metro Health and Wellness department (a name he chose for the department). As director, he helped pass a smoking ban in Kentucky. During his tenure with LMHWD, he established the nation’s first “Center for Health Equity” which continues to address health and life expectancy gaps between Whites and Blacks in Louisville Metro. This work lead to his starring role on the PBS series, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” While in Louisville, he was also an associate professor at the University of Louisville’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences. His other academic positions included Morehouse College of Medicine and the University of South Florida.
“My public practice is social justice; my passion is health equity.”-- Adewale Troutman
With former Surgeon General David Satcher, he authored an influential paper showing the excess mortality among Black Americans. President Obama appointed Troutman to the Committee on Infant Mortality. The American Public Health Association elected him as their President in 2013.
Dr. Troutman was 76 in 2022 when he died of complications of Parkinson’s Disease. His indelible impact on Public Health continues to live on.
Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston
Born in 1939 in Cincinnati, OH, Marilyn Hughes Gaston's passion for public health grew from her early childhood exposure to the intersectional forces of being a Black woman raised in deep poverty. At age 13, Gaston witnessed how being poor and uninsured in an underserved community and lacking adequate transportation led to her mother's delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer and subsequent treatment difficulties. According to Gaston, these early life experiences propelled her throughout her life.
"If you can change just one midlife woman's health behavior, you have a ripple effect. She's going to change her whole family." -- Marilyn Hughes Gaston
Determined to make a difference, Gaston completed a medical degree from University of Cincinnati and pediatric residency at Philadelphia General Hospital. As a resident, she learned about sickle cell disease (SCD) and the importance of early diagnosis and treatment with penicillin. Her research and advocacy efforts resulted in the adoption of pediatric SCD screening and penicillin treatment guidelines by the U.S. Public Health Service. The Gaston Sickle Cell test remains the standard of practice today.
Later, Dr. Gaston became the first Black woman to direct a bureau at the U.S. Health Resources and Service Administration. She also achieved the distinction of assistant surgeon general and rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service. By the time she officially retired in 2001, her efforts to reduce the burden of SCD had been adopted throughout Africa and elsewhere.
Throughout her career, she has focused on improving preventive interventions and quality health care for low income families living in underserved communities.
Dr. Mae Jemison
“Never be limited by other people’s imaginations” – Mae Jemison
Dr. Jemison is best known as the first African American woman to travel to space, serving as a Mission Specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1992. Before that, however, she made an impact in the field of public health! Jemison holds degrees in civil engineering, African American studies, and medicine. She worked in Sierra Leone and Liberia as a Peace Corps medical officer in the early 1980’s. During that time, she conducted research on Hepatitis B, rabies and schistosomiasis.
Marsha P. Johnson 
Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) was a Black queer activist and public health pioneer in New York City. An advocate for people living with HIV and AIDS, the transgender community, and houseless queer youth, Marsha put public health into practice.
“How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race?”-- Marsha P. Johnson
Mutual Aid - In 1970, Marsha along with Silvia Rivera co-founded Street Transgender* Action Revolutionaries (STAR), “an organization dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families.” Having experienced houselessness and often relying on sex work, Marsha, like many transwomen knew what was needed and built a space by community, for community. Two years later, they founded STAR House, the first shelter for queer and trans youth and sex workers to live in safety.
Advocacy - Around 1987, Ms. Johnson joined AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), an organization built in response to government inaction and social neglect of the virus raging through queer communities. At a critical time of the AIDS epidemic, Marsha spoke out of the need for structural support while simultaneously taking care of those living with the disease. “I don’t think you should be ashamed of anybody that you know that has AIDS. You should stand as close to them as you can and help them out as much as you can. I’m a strong believer in that and that’s why I try to do that for everyone I know that has the virus,” Marsha P. Johnson.
This Black History Month, as the people represented by the T and Q of the LBGTQ+ community are structurally being removed from federal websites and denied healthcare access, we lift up Marsha P. Johnson and all Black transwomen. Their role at the forefront of movements for social justice and health equity will not be erased.
*Language updated to modern terminology
Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) died at 31 from cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MA. She was a mother of five who sought treatment for vaginal bleeding but succumbed to it despite undergoing radium treatment.
Dr. Gey collected tissue samples from patients for research without their knowledge. Henrietta's cells were unique as they thrived and multiplied every 24 hours, unlike other samples which died. These HeLa cells contributed significantly to scientific research and medical advancements such as vaccinations and cancer treatments.
"Every human being has an inalienable right to determine what shall be done with his own body." -- from the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta's family was unaware and did not consent to the harvesting of her cells. They faced financial struggles while not receiving compensation for the widespread use of HeLa cells. This led to the issue of informed consent being addressed. In 2023, the Lacks family settled with Thermo Fisher Scientific, establishing that profits from human biological materials should be shared with the donor.
The HeLa case also highlighted the right to medical privacy when a published genome revealed the Lacks family's medical information. An agreement with the National Institute of Health ensured continued use of HeLa cells while protecting private health data.
Henrietta Lacks' immortal cells will keep aiding medical research. Her legacy lives on through ethical progress in medicine.
