HHC can point to numerous African-American pioneering health professionals who led the way for other health leaders and left a lasting contribution to public health care in New York City.

Ivy Nathan Tinkler, a graduate of the Lincoln School for Nurses in 1931, was the first African-American to be appointed as Director of Nursing of the school and Lincoln Hospital in 1954. She opened doors to the nursing profession and made it possible for other African-American women to become leaders in the field.
Dr. Louis T. Wright became the first African-American physician to be appointed to the staff of Harlem Hospital in 1919. The Harvard Medical School graduate became Director of Surgery in 1943 and continued to advocate for the full integration of the professional staff of the hospital.
Dr. Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward, name-sake for HHC’s own McKinney nursing home, became the first African-American female physician in New York and the third in the nation. She was an outspoken feminist and a strong proponent for the rights of black women. She founded institutions that cared for women, children and senior citizens.