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Little-known black history fact: Dr Barbara Ross-Lee

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Summary of story from blAckamericaweb, illness August 16, sale 2011

Dr Barbara Ross-Lee was the first African-American woman to be appointed dean of a United States medical school.

She is the sister of music legend Diana Ross.

Born in the projects of Detroit, Michigan, Barbara Ross started off performing with her siblings in church, but when Diana and the others left to start music careers, she enrolled in Wayne State University, hoping for pre-med.

Her first challenge came with financial aid. There was no aid available to students from extreme poverty.

Her second came when an advisor discouraged her from studying pre-med, saying that women should not study medicine and refused to authorize her to study human anatomy as her major.

In 1991, Dr Ross-Lee became the first osteopathic physician to participate in the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship and shortly after that, she became the first African-American woman dean of a United States medical school.

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