Minnie Joycelyn Elders, known as Joycelyn Elders, is a pediatrician and professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1953, Elders began to work with the US Army, where she trained as a physical therapist, being the only African American woman in her training class. Elders eventually became a medical doctor in 1956, specializing in pediatric endocrinology. In 1993, then US President Bill Clinton appointed Elders as the Surgeon General for the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which she served as until 1994. At that time, Elders was the first African American to hold the position of Surgeon General in the US. Throughout her career, Elders often spoke about controversial topics, like comprehensive sexual health education and abortion. During her time as Surgeon General, Elders advocated for universal health care coverage, promoting comprehensive sexual health education and bringing awareness to teen pregnancy in the US.

Mary Putnam Jacobi was a physician and researcher in the United States whose work advanced the understanding of women’s health in the late nineteenth century. She held senior positions at institutions such as the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and the Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary, both located in New York City, New York. At a time when women faced substantial barriers in both healthcare and academia, Jacobi conducted scientific research that challenged widely held misconceptions about women’s physiology, particularly regarding menstruation. By performing laboratory experiments and advocating for vivisection, which is the practice of performing operations on live animals for research purposes, Jacobi played a role in advancing medical techniques that influenced future research. Jacobi’s work not only contributed to a more scientific understanding of women’s biology but also led to greater inclusion of women in medical research and practice.