John A. Kenney, Jr.

John Andrew Kenney Jr. (October 8, 1914 – November 29, 2003) was an American dermatologist who taught at Howard University. He specialized in the study of skin disorders affecting racial minorities. He was one of the first African-American doctors to receive formal training in dermatology, and his mentees often described him as the "dean of black dermatology".

Early life and education Kenney was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on October 8, 1914. He was the oldest of four children of John A. Kenney Sr. and Frieda Armstrong Kenney, both of whom were also influential figures in African-American medicine. His father joined the Tuskegee Institute on the invitation of its founder, Booker T. Washington; he later became medical director and chief surgeon there. His mother graduated from Boston University, making her one of the first black women to do so; she later also took a teaching position at the Tuskegee Institute. After the family was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, they moved to Montclair, New Jersey in 1923, where Kenney attended Montclair High School. and continued to teach there for almost four decades. By 1973, he had succeeded in creating a separate dermatology department at Howard's Freedmen's Hospital. He remained a practicing dermatologist in Washington, D.C. until 1999.

Honors and awards In 1970, Kenney became the first black member of the American Academy of Dermatology, which named him a Master of Dermatology in 1995. In 1988, he received the Dermatology Foundation's Clark W. Finnerud Award, and he received the American Academy of Dermatology's Gold Medal in 2001.

Personal life and death Kenney married Larcenia Ferne Wood in 1943; they remained married until her death in 2000. They had three children together. Kenney died of heart failure on November 29, 2003, at his home in Washington, D.C.

Kenney's obituary in The Washington Post estimated that of the about 300 black dermatologists practicing in the United States in 2003, Kenney had mentored or trained about one-third of them.