Vivian Pinn, MD, was the first full-time Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) from 1991-2011 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIH Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health. In 1967, Dr. Pinn graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine as the only African American woman in her class. Dr. Pinn was a Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology at Howard University College of Medicine, Associate Professor of Pathology and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Teaching Fellow at Harvard Medical School.
In this interview Dr. Pinn discusses impressions of the women in her life and how this influenced the woman she was to become. She then speaks about the moments in her life that impacted her career path in medicine that coincided with the struggles of being black woman in medicine. She closes this interview with advice to women graduating from college and entering the workforce.