Mildred Fay Jefferson

Mildred Fay Jefferson (April 6, 1927 – October 15, 2010) was an American physician and anti-abortion activist. The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, the first woman to graduate in surgery from Harvard Medical School, and the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society, she is known for her opposition to the legalization of abortion and her work as president of the National Right to Life Committee.

Born in Pittsburg, Texas, Jefferson was the only child of Millard and Guthrie Jefferson, a Methodist minister, and a school teacher. Her parents divorced before 1976 and lived in Roxbury after their divorce. Jefferson was raised in Carthage, Texas, in the Wesley-Calvinist tradition. At a young age, "Millie" followed the town doctor around on his horse drawn buggy while he made housecalls, this would later inspire her to become a doctor.

Jefferson married in 1963 to Shane Cunningham, whom she met on a skiing trip, a real estate manager. As of 1976, the couple lived in Back Bay and had no children.

For elementary and middle school she attended public schools in East Texas. Later she earned her bachelor's degree a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and in three years from Texas College. Since she was considered too young to attend medical school, she went to Tufts University where she received her master's degree in biology. She then went on to Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1951, becoming the first black woman to do so.

Mildred Fay Jefferson was the first African American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1951. Her interests focused on medical jurisprudence, medical ethics, and particularly the societal and public policy impacts of combining medicine and law. She shifted to surgery during her first few years at Harvard Medical School and began clinical studies, and learned operational and surgical techniques. Two of her mentors—Dr. Carl Walter (the head of the surgical department) and Dr. David Hume (one of her professors, and the chief resident at the time)—gave her opportunities to put in extra time to advance her surgical skillset. Being the hard worker she was, she used these extra hours to get ahead, and by the time she obtained an internship, her skillset was well prepared.

During Dr. Jefferson's third and fourth years at Harvard Medical School, she took a variety of courses including an elective in urology "because most people think that a woman doctor would not be strong in urology."

Jefferson achieved board certification in surgery in 1972. After graduating from medical school, she did a surgical internship at Boston City Hospital, becoming the first woman to do so. She was also the first female doctor at the former Boston University Medical Center. By 1984, Jefferson was a general surgeon at the center and a professor of surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine. She would later become the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society.

According to Jefferson, one root of her opposition to abortion was her dedication to the Hippocratic oath, which morally bound her to the preservation of life. Her interest in abortion issues was triggered when she was asked to sign a petition opposing a resolution proposed by the American Medical Association supporting liberalization of abortion-related laws.