Joycelyn Elders
| Joycelyn Elders | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 15th Surgeon General of the United States | |
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In office September 8, 1993 – December 31, 1994 |
|
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Robert A. Whitney (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Audrey F. Manley (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Minnie Lee Jones August 13, 1933 Schaal, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Army |
| Years of service | USA: 1953–1956 |
| Rank | USPHS: Vice Admiral |
Dr. Minnie Joycelyn Elders (born Minnie Lee Jones; August 13, 1933) is an American pediatrician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the first African American appointed as Surgeon General of the United States. Elders is best known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization and distributing contraception in schools. She was forced to resign in December 1994 amidst controversy as a result of her views. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Dr. Elders was born Minnie Lee Jones in Schaal, Arkansas, to a poor farm sharecropping family, and was the eldest of eight children, and valedictorian of her school class. The family also spent two years near a defense plant in Richmond, California. In college, she changed her name to Minnie Joycelyn Lee. In 1952, she received her B.S. degree in Biology from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she also pledged Delta Sigma Theta. After working as a nurse's aide in a Veterans Administration hospital in Milwaukee for a period, she joined the United States Army in May 1953. During her 3 years in the Army, she was trained as a physical therapist. She then attended the University of Arkansas Medical School, where she obtained her M.D. degree in 1960. After completing an internship at the University of Minnesota Hospital and a residency in pediatrics at the University of Arkansas Medical Center, Elders earned an M.S. in Biochemistry in 1967.
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