Dr. Antonia Coello Novello was born on August 23, 1944 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She became the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as the US Surgeon General. After spending the first 18 years of her life continuously hospitalized due to congenital megacolon, before she was allowed to obtain corrective surgery, she dedicated her life to improving public health care. She obtained her BS (1965) from the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras, and MD (1970) from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. Additional training led her to do Internship in Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School and residency in Pediatric Nephrology (1976) at Georgetown University School of Medicine.
After residency, Dr. Novello returned to her passion for Public Health, working for the NIH starting in 1979 while completing an MPH (1982) from John Hopkins University. She was a major player in the Organ Transplantation Procurement Act of 1984 and was deputy director for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in 1986. She was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to serve as Surgeon General from 1990-1993, becoming the first woman and Hispanic to hold the position. She raised awareness about issues including alcohol abuse, smoking, violence, AIDS, and women and minority health. She went on to serve as a Special Representative for Health and Nutrition with UNICEF before becoming a Professor of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
In 1999, she was appointed as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health and served for 7 years before becoming Vice-President at the Women and Children Health and Policy Affairs at Disney Children’s Hospital at Orlando in 2008. She stayed here until her 2014 retirement. In her illustrious career she has earned more than 50 honorary doctorates and 30 military commendations, including the Merit Cross medal from the Puerto Rican National Guard.
REFERENCES:
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/medicine/medicine-biographies/antonia-c-novello
- https://web.archive.org/web/20090131011634/http://achievement.org/autodoc/page/nov0bio-1
- https://web.archive.org/web/20200111192734/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-10664572/antonia-novello-a-dream-come-true
- https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/antonia-novello/ (Accessed 9/24/2025)
- https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_239.html
IMAGE SOURCE:
Public Domain, US Public Health Services
