Helen O. Dickens — Mothers in Science

Helen O. Dickens (1909-2001) was an American physician and an advocate for women’s health care. She’s also well-known for being the first African American woman to be admitted to the American College of Surgeons. Dickens was also a mother of two children.

Dickens was a pioneer in obstetrics and gynecology public health and dedicated her 60-year-long career to reducing the prevalence of teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STIs), and cervical cancer through education and preventive medicine.

Like many other families suffering from oppression and widespread racism in the US, Dickens’ parents, a former slave and a domestic servant had struggled to make a living on low wages and were determined to ensure their children received an education.

Her father encouraged her to be a nurse but she decided to study medicine at the age of 12, though she had never seen a woman doctor. She said in an interview in 1988 “I got it into my head that if I were going to be a nurse, I might as well be a doctor”.

Dickens attended a desegregated high school and then continued to apply to the best schools despite suffering racial and gender discrimination, as their students and faculty were predominantly white men. In 1934, she completed her MD degree from the University of Illinois Medical School with a state scholarship- she was the only African American woman to graduate in her class of 175 students!

At that time, few hospitals accepted black or women residents, but she finally secured a residency in obstetrics at the Provident Hospital in Chicago, a hospital focused on providing care to the predominantly black community. She then began working at a community health center, and for six years she delivered babies and cared for African American mothers and women living in extreme poverty. In 1943, Dickens returned to school to get a Master's in obstetrics and gynecology. She later passed the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology board examinations, making her the first African American woman to hold the certification.

Throughout her career, Dickens worked tirelessly on the prevention of teen pregnancy and STIs through education, and she founded one of the nation’s first clinics for pregnant teens. Dickens also led a cancer screening program that encouraged doctors to perform Pap smears for detecting cervical cancer, which was the leading cause of death for women in the US. Pap smears significantly lowered the rate of cervical cancer deaths in the US and worldwide, and are still routinely used today.

Dickens married Dr. Purvis Henderson, a surgeon, in 1943 and the couple had two children, Norman and Jayne. Her daughter followed in her footsteps and became a physician. Dickens died in 2001, but her legacy continues to be impactful today.