Poindexter, Hildrus Augustus
1901-1987 · Contribution: 1930s-1960s
Bacteriology and the epidemiology of tropical diseases — malaria, schistosomiasis, and other infectious diseases; field research and disease-control programs across Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
First African American to earn both an MD (Harvard, 1929) and a PhD in microbiology and immunology (Columbia, 1932); reduced malaria rates dramatically in the Solomon Islands in WWII (Bronze Star) and directed the U.S. Public Health Service Mission to Liberia (1948).
Life & background
African-American bacteriologist born May 10, 1901 in Memphis, TN, to a formerly enslaved father. Chaired the department of bacteriology, preventive medicine, and public health at Howard University; career officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. Died April 1987.
Sources
- Harvard Medical School (SITN); Prabook; Face2Face Africa
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