Cora LeEthel Christian was the first native woman of the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

to earn a medical degree, and is a medical administrator in the U.S Virgin Islands.

Early life and medical training

Christian was born on Saint Thomas in the

, and graduated first in her high school class. Christian earned her medical degree from

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. The university is ...

in 1971, where she was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

female graduate. After her degree, she completed a residency in

Family Practice Family medicine is a medical specialty that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary care physician, is ...

at Howard University Medical Center and her Master’s in Public Health at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Career

After completing her medical education Christian returned to the Virgin Islands, working as an emergency room doctor in

Frederiksted Frederiksted ( Danish for "Frederik's Place") is both a town and one of the two administrative districts of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It is a grid-planned city, designed by surveyor Jens Beckfor, originally to 14x14 blocks but built 7x7 t ...

, St. Croix. In 1977 she was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Health for the Virgin Islands, which office she held for the following 15 years. In 1977 she also founded the Virgin Islands Medical Institute (VIMI), the Quality Improvement Organization for Medicare hospitals in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Christian became the Medical Director of the petroleum refinery

Hovensa Limetree Bay Refinery (known also as Hovensa, styled HOVENSA) is an oil refinery located on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. The refinery was a joint venture between Hess Corporation and PDVSA. For most of its opera ...

in 1991 and was its Chief Medical Consultant until the company's closure in 2012. Christian received the

American Academy of Family Physicians The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) was founded in 1947 to promote and maintain high-quality standards for family medicine, an offshoot of the classical general practitioner. It is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. AAFP is one of ...

Humanitarian Award in 2013, served on the National Board of the

AARP AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 and older. The organization, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., said it had more than 38 ...

, and was recognized by U.S. Virgin Islands' Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives Donna Christian-Christensen on the floor of the

113th U.S. Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Cora United States Virgin Islands scientists American women physicians