Yvette Francis-McBarnette (May 10, 1926 – March 28, 2016) was an American

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

and a pioneer in treating children with

sickle cell anaemia 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 ...

Early life and education

Francis-McBarnette was born in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

on 10 May 1926 to schoolteachers Clarence and Sarah Francis. The family moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

when she was a toddler. She graduated from

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Hunter is publicly funded, and there i ...

at the age of 14, then she enrolled at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

and completed a bachelor's degree in chemistry, followed by a master's degree in chemistry at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 1946, aged 19, she enrolled at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

- she was the second black woman at the school. Francis-McBarnette completed her paediatrics residency at

Michael Reese Hospital Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital located in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1881, Michael Reese Hospital was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She returned to school in 1978, to complete a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology at

Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center The BronxCare Health System, previously known as "Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center," is a hospital in the Bronx, New York City. It was founded as the Lebanon Hospital by Jonas Weil in 1890. In 1962, Lebanon Hospital merged with Bronx Hospital, and si ...

. This allowed her to continue treating patients that she had originally seen in her pediatric sickle cell anemia screening program.

Career

Francis-McBarnette's first medical position was at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She later became director of the sickle cell anaemia clinic at Jamaica Hospital Medical Centre in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and managed the St Albans Family Medical Center. In 1966, together with colleagues Dr. Doris Wethers and Dr.

Lila Fenwick Lila Althea Fenwick (May 24, 1932 – April 4, 2020) was an American lawyer, human rights advocate, and United Nations official. She was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School. Early life and education Fenwick was born in M ...

, she started the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease. Francis-McBarnett used

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

with her patients, with positive results, although the effectiveness was not confirmed until fifteen years later in an article in ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

''. By 1970 her clinic had

screened A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the ...

over 20,000 school children for the disease, placing those with the disease on antibiotics, which some continued to take throughout their lives. She was invited to join a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

committee focusing on effective management of the disease. The committee's work led to the 1972 National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act, signed by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, which used federal funds for screening, counselling, education and research.

Personal life

She was married to Olvin R. McBarnette, and they had six children, and three grandchildren. Her son Bruce McBarnette is a champion athlete.

Selected publications

* Current Status of Sickle Cell Disease and Outlook for Research Programs. ''J Natl Med Assoc.'' 1972 Nov; 64(6): 532, 549-550. * The foundation for research and education in sickle cell disease. A prospectus. By Francis YF, Wethers DL, Fenwick LA. ''J Natl Med Assoc.'' 1970 May;62(3):200-

* Screening and genetic counseling programs for sickle cell trait and sickle cell anemia. ''J Am Med Womens Assoc.'' 1974 Sep;29(9):406-10 * Hyposthenuria in sickle cell disease. ''J Natl Med Assoc.'' 1968 Jul;60(4):266-70. * Francis, Yvette Fay. "Sickle Cell Disease." ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' 1997 ed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis-McBarnette, Yvette 2016 deaths Women pediatricians American pediatricians Hunter College High School alumni Hunter College alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Yale School of Medicine alumni 1926 births 20th-century African-American scientists American medical researchers Scientists from New York (state) 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American scientists