Vanessa Northington Gamble

Vanessa Northington Gamble (born 1953) is an American physician, professor, and activist best known for her work as chair of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee in 1996. She is currently the University Professor of Medical Humanities at George Washington University.

Early life and education Born in West Philadelphia, Gamble was primarily raised by her maternal grandmother. She attended Philadelphia High School for Girls and graduated in 1970, then studied medical sociology and biology at Hampshire College, graduating with her bachelor's degree in 1974. Gamble then attended medical school and graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, earning her M.D. in 1983 and her Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science in 1987. She completed her graduate medical education (residency) at the University of Massachusetts. President Clinton issued a formal apology on behalf of the government on May 16, 1997. she explained however that while the Tuskegee Syphilis Study contributed to African Americans' continuing mistrust of the biomedical community, the study was not the most important reason. She called attention to a broader historical and social context that had already negatively influenced community attitudes, including countless prior medical injustices before the study's start in 1932. Beginning in 2003, Gamble was a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the school of public health.

Gamble has also worked with research organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and the American Foundation for AIDS Research. "'Outstanding Services to Negro Health': Dr. Dorothy Boulding Ferebee, Dr. Virginia M. Alexander, and Black Women Physicians' Public Health Activism," American Journal of Public Health (2016). "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Reconsidered," Hastings Center Report (2014). "'No Struggle, No Fight, No Court Battle': The 1948 Desegregation of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine," Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (2012). "'There Wasn't a Lot of Comforts in Those Days': African Americans, Public Health, and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic," Public Health Reports (2010). "Midian Othello Bousfield: Advocate for the Medical and Public Health Concerns of Black Americans," American Journal of Public Health (2009). "Standing on Shoulders," American Journal of Public Health (2009). "NIH Consensus Development Statement on Hydroxyurea Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease," NIH Consensus and State-of-the-Science Statements (2008). "National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement: Hydroxyurea Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease," NIH Consensus and State-of-the-Science Statements (2008). "Introduction to Special Issue: Advancing the Ethics of Community-Based Participatory Research," Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics (2008). "Mistrust Among Minorities and the Trustworthiness of Medicine," PLOS Medicine (2006). "U.S. Policy on Health Inequities: The Interplay of Politics and Research," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (2006). "Subcutaneous Scars." Health Affairs (2000). "The 'Boom and Bust Phenomenon': The Hopes, Dreams, and Broken Promises of the Contraceptive Revolution," Contraception (2000). "Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health Care," American Journal of Public Health (1997). "Making a Place for Ourselves: The Black Hospital Movement, 1920-1945" (New York: Oxford University Press), 1995.

Honors and awards Head, Association of American Medical Colleges Division of Community and Minority Programs (1999) Member, National Academy of Medicine (2005) University Professor, George Washington University (2007)