Virginia M. Alexander, MD — obstetrics and gynecology, public health
Courtesy Archives and Special Collections on Women in Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine
In 1931, Dr. Virginia Alexander (1900–1949) founded the Aspiranto Health Home in her own house in Philadelphia. She cared for the poorest members of her community, the third largest African American community in America at that time. As well as general medical care and emergency treatment, she and Dr. Helen Dickens, her colleague, delivered babies and ran parenting classes. During World War II, she cared for coal and iron miners as a public health physician in Alabama, again providing much-needed medical services under the most difficult conditions.
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