Paul Cornely

Paul Bertau Cornely (March 9, 1906 – February 9, 2002) was an American physician, public health pioneer, and civil rights activist. In 1934, he became the first African American to earn a doctoral degree in public health. He was elected President of the American Public Health Association in 1970.

Early life and education Cornely was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. His mother was Adrienne Mellon and his father Eleodore Cornely. At the age of three his family moved to Puerto Rico. He later recalled that, during his final year of medical school, he did not know whether he would be able to complete his training because of the lack of jobs for funding it. In 1934, he became the first Black person to earn a doctorate in public health in the United States. At Howard, Cornely developed a program that concentrated on public health provision to underserved communities. He worked alongside Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee, an African American gynecologist and civil rights activist.

In 1968, he organized the Black Caucus of Health Workers, which continues to support African-American public health workers to this day. Working with then-American Public Health Association President Lester Breslow, Cornely traveled across the United States investigating the physical health and working conditions of people of color. Beyond civil rights, Cornely was an advocate for public health for all and argued that the government should provide healthcare to all citizens before getting "a man on the moon."

In 1973, after almost forty years at Howard University, Cornely retired as a professor emeritus of Community Health. In 1970, he was the first Black person to be elected President of the American Public Health Association. 1972: Appointed to the Rockefeller Commission on Population Growth and the American Future In 1984, The Physician Forum launched the Paul Cornely Award.