Cora LeEthel Christian, MD ’71
Career-wise, where has life taken you? Is it what you expected to do when you were a student, or did you change your trajectory sometime in medical school or afterward? If so, what inspired you to change? Did you take an interesting path to where you are now, and if so, what was that path?
CLC: I wanted to be an attorney like my dad. He told me I should be a physician, as I liked helping people. I majored in chemistry and minored in speech as an undergraduate so I could consider law.
I switched my major to biology. I loved it and realized my dad was right. I wanted to go to medical school and return to Frederiksted, St. Croix, the most depressed area of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where I could make a difference.
As a student at Jefferson, I felt isolated and sad as the only person of color in the school. I spoke with Dean Connelly. He said Jefferson could not find qualified applicants. I offered to go to Philadelphia-area colleges to find them, and I asked the Board if it would finance the students. By my senior year, 12 qualified African American students matriculated to Jeff. All graduated and are physicians. One of the student’s daughters is also a Jeff graduate.
I worked as a nurse aide to fund a trip to Africa. I worked at the Kenyatta General Hospital and with the Flying Doctors. I realized how privileged we were despite racial tensions. We took immunizations for granted, while many Africans stood in lines miles long for a polio vaccine.
Many African children had rubella, tetanus, and measles. Vaccines preventing these illnesses were readily available in the U.S. I wanted to better understand public health and decided that along with my residency in family practice I would get my master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University. This helped when I became the assistant commissioner of health for all of St. Croix and then for all of the U.S. Virgin Islands for Prevention, Health Promotion, and Protection and later with my community’s battle against COVID-19.
I attended Howard University’s Family Practice Program because I wanted a Black experience for my residency, knowing I would return home to a predominantly Black community. Living in the D.C. area allowed me to see how national government works, leading me to found the Virgin Islands Medical Institute, which focused on improving the quality of care for all Virgin Islanders. I also established the only federally qualified health center in St. Croix, which serves the vast majority of the population, almost half living below poverty.
How did your Jefferson education help you achieve your goals as a physician?
CLC: I was fortunate to choose Jefferson and learn the most crucial aspect of my education—how to diagnose the patient.
I learned the importance of listening to the patient and developing the skill set to find the problem. When I went back home to Frederiksted, we did not have all the diagnostic modalities available in the U.S. My patients benefited from the attention to listening and diagnosing through physical examination that I learned at Jeff.
What is your fondest memory of your medical school and training days?
CLC: I did not enjoy my time at Jefferson due to the racism that I experienced. Medical school taught me that we must have both wisdom and compassion if we are to improve healthcare. Both must be present as we assist our patients in healing.