Minnie Jocelyn Elders

by Chelsea Alpough

Minnie Joycelyn Elders 
  

Confirmed as the sixteenth surgeon general of the United States on September 7, 1993, Joycelyn Elders is the first African American and the second female to head the U.S. Public Health Service. During her fifteen months as surgeon general, Elders added tobacco use, national health care, and drug and alcohol abuse to her list of major concerns.