American Decades
Leaders in National Health Care Policy
Bush Appointees. Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, the first African American to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was in office at the start of the decade, having been appointed by President George Bush and serving from 1989 to 1993. His term ended with the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, and he returned to the presidency of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Dr. Antonia C. Novello, who was born and reared in Puerto Rico, was the first female and Hispanic to become Surgeon General of the United States. During her tenure in office, Novello focused attention on the health of women, children, and minorities, as well as on underage drinking, smoking, and AIDS. She worked to discourage illegal tobacco use by young people and criticized the tobacco industry for appealing to the youth market through the use of cartoon characters such as "Joe Camel." She left the post on 30 June 1993 to become the Special...
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1990's Medicine and Health
