Vanessa Northington Gamble (born 1953) is a physician who chaired the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee in 1996. [1] [2] [3]
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. [1]
Gamble began her career with appointments at the Harvard School of Public Health, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts. In 1989, she was appointed an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, where she taught courses on the intersection of race and public health in the United States. At the University of Wisconsin Medical School, she founded and was director of its Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. [1]
In 1996, [3] Gamble chaired a committee to investigate the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, an unethical, racist study of long-term syphilis infection in black men. [1] The committee's final report, published on May 20, called for then-President Bill Clinton to issue an apology in response to the harm done to the Macon County community and Tuskegee University, and the fears of government and medical abuse it created among African Americans. The report also called for the creation of programs to educate the public regarding the study, to train health care providers, and for ethics in scientific research. [4] President Clinton issued a formal apology on behalf of the government on May 16, 1997. [1] In her seminal article written later in 1997, [5] 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. [6]
She left the University of Wisconsin in 2000, and moved to Tuskegee University, where she led the first National Bioethics Center to be established at a historically black university. [7] Beginning in 2003, Gamble was a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the school of public health. [1] As of 2016, she is a professor of medical humanities at George Washington University, where she began teaching in 2007. [8] [9]
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. [1]
Vanessa Northington Gamble (born 1953) is a physician who chaired the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee in 1996. [1] [2] [3]
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. [1]
Gamble began her career with appointments at the Harvard School of Public Health, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts. In 1989, she was appointed an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, where she taught courses on the intersection of race and public health in the United States. At the University of Wisconsin Medical School, she founded and was director of its Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. [1]
In 1996, [3] Gamble chaired a committee to investigate the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, an unethical, racist study of long-term syphilis infection in black men. [1] The committee's final report, published on May 20, called for then-President Bill Clinton to issue an apology in response to the harm done to the Macon County community and Tuskegee University, and the fears of government and medical abuse it created among African Americans. The report also called for the creation of programs to educate the public regarding the study, to train health care providers, and for ethics in scientific research. [4] President Clinton issued a formal apology on behalf of the government on May 16, 1997. [1] In her seminal article written later in 1997, [5] 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. [6]
She left the University of Wisconsin in 2000, and moved to Tuskegee University, where she led the first National Bioethics Center to be established at a historically black university. [7] Beginning in 2003, Gamble was a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the school of public health. [1] As of 2016, she is a professor of medical humanities at George Washington University, where she began teaching in 2007. [8] [9]
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. [1]