"The world would not be dictated by one race or gender."
~ Dr. Myra Adele Logan
~ Dr. Myra Adele Logan
In support of National Go Red for Women day, I wore my red to raise awareness and to support my friend Monica.
This information was copied from:
https://www.goredforwomen.org/get-involved/national-wear-red-day/what-it-means-to-go-red-for-women/
1 in 3 women die of heart disease and stroke each year. So we encourage you to join movement to end heart disease and stroke in women because it’s not just a man’s disease. Here’s what it means to Go Red:
G: GET YOUR NUMBERS
Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure and cholesterol.
O: OWN YOUR LIFESTYLE
Stop smoking, lose weight, exercise, and eat healthy.
It’s up to you. No one can do it for you.
R: REALIZE YOUR RISK
We think it won’t happen to us, but heart disease kills one of three women.
E: EDUCATE YOUR FAMILY
Make healthy food choices for you and your family.
Teach your kids the importance of staying active.
D: DON’T BE SILENT
Tell every woman you know that heart disease is our No. 1 killer.
Raise your voice here GoRedForWomen.org.
With February being both Black History Month and Heart Health Month, we want to celebrate a Woman You Should Know who deserves recognition across all fronts. Meet Myra Adele Logan (1908 – 1977), a pioneering doctor known for her selfless, humanitarianism. She is another perfect example of an extraordinary woman we sadly never learned about in school, which is truly dumbfounding given her impressive accomplishments and historic firsts. Here’s the long overdue history lesson… WYSK style.
Myra was born in 1908 in Tuskegee, Alabama, the eighth child of Warren and Adella Hunt Logan. Her father was the treasurer of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute and her mother, a noted suffragist and health care activist, had a college degree – rare for a woman of that time, especially a black woman. Needless to say, her parents held education and optimism in the highest regard, neither of which were lost on Myra.
"The world would not be dictated by one race or gender." – Dr. Myra Adele Logan
In 1927, she was valedictorian of her graduating class at Atlanta University and went on to earn an MS in psychology from Columbia University. In her first of many firsts, Myra then became the inaugural recipient of the Walter Gray Crump Scholarship for Young Women, which landed her a $10,000 four-year scholarship to attend New York Medical College. After graduating from med school in 1933, she began her internship at Harlem Hospital, where she worked in the emergency room.
In 1943, when open-heart surgery was still in its infancy, Myra, then an associate surgeon, became the first woman to operate on a human heart in only the ninth such operation of its kind anywhere in the world.
Throughout her career Myra studied new antibiotic drugs, and in the 1960’s she researched early detection and treatment for breast cancer, specifically developing a more accurate x-ray process that could detect differences in the density of tissue and discover tumors earlier. Her research saved countless lives.
She was also a charter member of one of the first group practices in the nation, the Upper Manhattan Medical Group of the Health Insurance Plan, a concept that housed physicians of various specialties under one roof… the norm today, but revolutionary at the time.
Myra, who practiced medicine to serve, rather than simply to earn a paycheck, also found the time to address the needs of her community in other ways. She worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Planned Parenthood, and the New York State Fair Employment Practices Committee, among other organizations. After her retirement in 1970, she served on the New York State Workmen’s Compensation Board. She was known for encouraging people to walk tall and proud, and be who they wanted to be.
Myra’s myriad of medical and civic achievements led to her election to the American College of Surgeons… she was the first black woman ever to earn this honor.
She died on January 13, 1977 of lung cancer at the age of 68.
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