Bold People

Revere, known for his role in the American Revolution, was also the first health officer ever appointed in the U.S. As the first president of the Boston Board of Health, he organized several public health initiatives to stave off epidemics of yellow fever and cholera.

Nightingale is well known as the founder of the modern nursing field. She was also a prominent social reformer and a pioneer in statistics and data visualization, using infographics to present her analysis of statistical data in an accessible way.

Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel prize, was a pioneer in radioactivity (in fact, she named it). During World War I, she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services in field hospitals—it’s estimated over a million soldiers were treated using her technology.

Dr. Drew was an innovator in plasma storage and blood bank technology. As the director of the first blood bank project in Great Britain, he helped save thousands of lives during WWII. He also founded the American Red Cross blood bank.

Dr. House developed and invented the cochlear implant—the first invention to restore any of the five senses in humans. He is also considered the father of neurology. Fun fact: one of Dr. House’s otological patients was astronaut Alan Shepard.

Dr. Damadian is the inventor of the full-body MRI scanning machine. Revolutionary for the ability to diagnose a patient in a non-invasive manner, MRI technology is seen as one of the greatest medical advancements of all time.

Dr. Bath, an ophthalmologist, cofounded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. In 1986, she invented the Laserphaco probe, a laser device and method for cataract treatment—and became the first Black woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention.

Dr. Wong-Staal was the first doctor to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes. A virologist and molecular biologist, she also discovered molecular evidence in HIV that led to the development of AIDS drug treatments.