Theresa Greene Reed

Theresa Wilhelmina Green Reed (December 9, 1923 – July 10, 2017) was an American physician and epidemiologist. Reed worked as a staff and public health physician for around 18 years at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital. Later, she went to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where in 1968 she became the first African American woman to work as an epidemiologist.

Life and career Reed was born in Baltimore on December 9, 1923, and soon moved to Buffalo, New York. She graduated from Lafayette High School in 1941. At the FDA, Reed worked as a supervisor for physicians who evaluate anti-infective medications for government approval. She also worked on other types of drugs, such as aminoglycosides and quinolones. Reed retired from the FDA in 1992.

She died in Montgomery County, Maryland on July 10, 2017, at the age of 93.