This week, as hearings begin for a new Surgeon General, we reflect on what kind of public health leadership is required. And as Black History Month draws to a close, one name rises with clarity and conviction: Dr. Jocelyn Elders.
Many know her as the first Black Surgeon General of the United States. Fewer know the full extent of its history.
Dr. Jocelyn Elders was born in rural Arkansas in 1933, the daughter of sharecroppers and one of eight children. She often reflected on her upbringing, saying, “I grew up on a farm in a three-room shack. We had no running water. We had no electricity. Nobody had health care. There were no health facilities for miles and miles. So I couldn’t grow up wanting to be in public health or even want to be a doctor, because you couldn’t understand that.”
She went to segregated schools and didn’t see a black doctor until she was 16. That moment changed the course of her life.
Dr. Elders received her medical degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine and later became the first board-certified pediatric endocrinologist in the state. Her early work focused on children with juvenile diabetes, where she saw firsthand how poverty, limited access to care, and lack of education worsened health outcomes.
Her early work focused on children with juvenile diabetes at a time when the disease was poorly understood and often mismanaged. He saw firsthand how poverty, lack of education and limited access to care worsened outcomes. Long before health equity became a buzzword, he was naming the structural factors of disease.
Dr. Elders understood that chronic illness is not only biological. It is social. It is economical. It’s political.
As Arkansas Public Health Director and later Surgeon General, she pushed for comprehensive sex education rooted in science, not shame. She spoke openly about contraception, reproductive autonomy, HIV prevention and the importance of honest conversations with young people. In a time when silence was safer, he chose clarity.
A lesser-known fact: under her leadership in Arkansas, teen pregnancy rates dropped significantly. Vaccination rates improved. Expanded access to preventive services. It proved that when you invest in education and prevention, communities thrive.
Her reproductive health advocacy was based on dignity. He believed that young people deserved medically accurate information. She believed that women deserved control over their bodies. He believed that public health should face reality, not avoid it.
He also consistently linked chronic disease to broader systems. Her work in pediatric endocrinology and juvenile diabetes shaped the way she viewed prevention. He knew that lifestyle, access to nutritious food, stable housing, and early education all influence lifelong health outcomes. This through the line is directly connected to the work we do today.
At the Black Women’s Health Imperative, we’re talking about period equality. We are talking about reproductive justice. We are talking about prevention of chronic diseases. We are talking about empowering the youth with knowledge and tools.
Dr. Elders did all of this decades ago.
Another little-known part of her story: after leaving federal office, she didn’t retreat from public life. She continued to teach at the University of Arkansas, mentoring students and advocating for science-based policy until her final years. She remained unapologetic about her position that health policy should reflect lived realities.
Her legacy reminds us that leadership in public health takes courage. It requires you to tell the truth even when it’s inconvenient. It requires that we center those who are most affected, not those who are most powerful.
As we close out Black History Month, we honor Dr. Jocelyn Elder as not just the first, but the blueprint. A plan to boldly advocate for reproductive health. For early-onset chronic disease prevention. For fact-based youth empowerment. For a vision of public health that refuses to separate equity from care.
The hearings this week are about who will lead next.
Our concern is about who showed us how.
And we are still building on its foundations.
