Willarda V. Edwards is an American physician and lecturer. Edwards became interested in medicine as a child. When Edwards was a teenager, she lost her 15-month-old sister due to

sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

. She served as the class secretary in her senior year in high school at Bel Air High School in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology in 1972 from the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

(UTEP). In 1977 she earned a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from

University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine (abbreviated UMSOM), located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Me ...

. Edwards also served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

at the

Bethesda Naval Hospital The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), formerly known as the National Naval Medical Center and colloquially referred to as the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed, or Navy Med, is a United States' tri-service military medi ...

. In 1984, she got into private practice. She served as the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

woman president of the Baltimore Medical Society in 1995. Edwards worked as the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

national health advocacy director until July 2004 and worked on the "Call to Action on Health" which focused on disparities among minority groups with

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

in the United States. Edwards was also the president of the

Sickle Cell Disease Association of America The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. (SCDAA) is a nonprofit organization with the sole purpose of supporting research, education and funding of individuals, families those who are impacted by sickle cell disease. Mission statement ...

in 2004. In 2009, she became president of the

National Medical Association The National Medical Association (NMA) is the largest and oldest national organization representing African American physicians and their patients in the United States. The NMA is a 501(c)(3) national professional and scientific organization repr ...

(NMA). Edwards currently serves on the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

(AMA) board where she has addressed

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

as a threat to

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Willarda V. University of Texas at El Paso alumni People from El Paso, Texas African-American women physicians University of Maryland School of Medicine alumni American Medical Association Educators from Baltimore Physicians from Baltimore Year of birth missing (living people) Living people