Antonia Coello Novello

Antonia Novello
14th Surgeon General of the United States
In office March 9, 1990 – June 30, 1993
President	George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton
Preceded by	James Mason (Acting)
Succeeded by	Robert Whitney (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1944-08-23) August 23, 1944 (age 72) Fajardo, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Johns Hopkins University

Antonia Coello Novello, M.D., (born August 23, 1944) is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as fourteenth Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Novello is the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General. Novello served as Commissioner of Health for the State of New York from 1999 to 2006, and in connection with that position, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of filing a false instrument involving a worker’s duties for having employees do her personal errands.

In 1979, Novello joined the Public Health Service and received a commission in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC). Her first assignment was as a project officer at the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 1976, she also held a clinical appointment in pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital. During her years at NIH, Novello worked on an MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, receiving the degree in 1982.

Novello held various positions at NIH before being appointed to Assistant Surgeon General grade in the PHSCC and assignment as the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in 1986. She also served as Coordinator for AIDS Research for NICHD from September 1987. In this role, she developed a particular interest in pediatric AIDS, which caught the attention of the White House.

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