Leonidas Berry

Leonidas Harris Berry (20 July 1902 – 4 December 1995) was an American and pioneer in gastroscopy and endoscopy. He served as the president of the National Medical Association from 1965 to 1966.

Biography Berry, a descendant of a self-liberated African who fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union army, was born in Woodsdale, Person County, North Carolina. After graduating from Wilberforce University in 1924, Berry moved to Chicago where he received a second B.S. degree from the University of Chicago, followed by a M.D. degree from the Rush Medical College of the university. In 1933, he also received a M.S. degree in Pathology from the University of Illinois Medical School.

After receiving his medical degree, Berry worked briefly at the Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C. And then at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois where he specialized in gastroenterology and retired in 1975 as chief of endoscopy and senior attending physician.

In addition to his long and distinguished medical career, Berry was active in teaching, writing, and community public service. The latter included work in civil rights, on the racial problems of public health, and with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was also the author of a genealogical history of his family I Wouldn't Take Nothin' For My Journey: Two Centuries of an Afro-American Minister's Family published in 1981.

Social Activism Berry combined his pioneering medical career with social activism. In 1958, when the American College of Gastroenterology scheduled its annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, Berry decided that he could not attend in good faith knowing that there was continued racial segregation in the city even after several key civil rights rulings. Berry wrote a letter to the society's chairman informing him that he would not be able to attend. With a purpose of preparing Black American youth for careers in medicine, the Chicago Council for Biomedical Careers helped to encourage those interested in becoming physicians by providing them with the education and resources they would need to achieve that goal. At the time, Cairo was in the midst of a race riot. Distinguished Service Award from the National Medical Association First Annual Clinical Achievement Award from the American College of Gastroenterology Freedom Award for Public Service from the Chicago Chapter of the NAACP Distinguished Alumni Award of Rush Medical College