Hughenna Louise Gauntlett (September 14, 1915July 25, 2010) was an American physician born in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. She was the first Black woman doctor to hold American Board of Surgery certification.

Early life and education

Gauntlett was born in

Siquirres Siquirres is a district of the Siquirres canton, in the Limón province of Costa Rica. It is a center of commerce and has most of the services for the area's locals. Toponymy The name is derived from a native word meaning reddish colored. His ...

, and raised in Jamaica, the daughter of Hubert Gauntlett and Ruth Spencer Gauntlett. Her grandmother Mary Elizabeth Spencer was a nurse midwife. Gauntlett attended Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts, and began medical school at the College of Medical Evangelists, part of

Loma Linda University Loma Linda University (LLU) is a private Seventh-day Adventist health sciences university in Loma Linda, California. , the university comprises eight schools and a Faculty of Graduate Studies. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist educatio ...

, in 1946. At Loma Linda, she was the only Black woman in her class of 96 students, and she had to live off-campus, because there was no on-campus housing available for a Black woman student. She completed her medical degree in 1951.

Career

Gauntlett served an internship at

Sydenham Hospital Sydenham Hospital was a healthcare facility in Harlem, Manhattan, New York, which operated between 1892 and 1980. It was located at 124 Street and Manhattan Avenue. History Sydenham opened in 1892, occupying nine houses on 116th Street near 2nd ...

in New York City. She joined Kathleen Jones-King's private practice in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 1959, she and Jones-King helped at a large polio vaccination clinic in South Los Angeles. After marriage and children, Gauntlett entered a surgical residency program at California Hospital Medical Center, and was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1968, the first Black woman to earn the credential. She became a fellow of the

American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...

in 1970. Gauntlett became chair of the general surgery department at California Hospital Medical Center in 1980. She was a charter member of the Association of Black Women Physicians when it was founded in 1982. She retired in 1986. In 1993, she received the Olga Jonasson Distinguished Member Award from the Association of Women Surgeons.

Personal life

Gauntlett married a fellow physician, Frank Antonio Santos, in 1952. They had twin sons, who both became doctors. She became a United States citizen in 1955. Her husband died in 1991. She died in 2010, aged 94 years, in Laredo, Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauntlett, Hughenna L. 1915 births 2010 deaths People from Limón Province 20th-century African-American scientists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American physicians 20th-century American women physicians 21st-century American women African-American women physicians American people of Costa Rican descent American women surgeons Atlantic Union College alumni Costa Rican emigrants to Jamaica Fellows of the American College of Surgeons Jamaican emigrants to the United States Loma Linda University alumni