Hidden Figures No More

The following email was originally posted on July 23, 2018

As I continue my journey through 1930, I occasionally come across the lives of individuals who had been unknown to me but, as with those Hidden Figures of recent movie fame, perhaps should not have been.  Being a light bearer, it has been my calling to cast a light so that such individuals are no longer obscured.  And so, the following is a brief listing of some additional Hidden Figures whose lives, for those who read this, are hidden no more.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Class of 1975

Felix I. D. Konotey-Ahulu (born 12 July 1930) is a Ghanaian physician and scientist who is the Dr Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and a consultant physician/genetic counsellor, Haemoglobinopathy/Sickle Cell States, in Harley Street, London.[4] He is one of the world’s foremost experts on sickle-cell disease.[5]

Samuel Lee Kountz Jr. (October 30, 1930 – December 23, 1981) was an African-American kidney transplantation surgeon from Lexa, Arkansas. He was most distinguished for his pioneering work in the field of kidney transplantations, and in research, discoveries, and inventions in Renal Science. In 1961, while working at the Stanford University Medical Center, he performed the first successful Kidney transplant between humans who were not identical twins. Six years later, he and a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, developed the prototype for the Belzer kidney perfusion machine, a device that can preserve kidneys for up to 50 hours from the time they are taken from a donor's body. It is now standard equipment in hospitals and research laboratories around the world.[1][2][3]

Janez Yvonne Lawson Bordeaux (22 February 1930 – 24 November 1990) was a chemical engineer who became one of NASA's computers. She was the first African-American hired into a technical position at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She programmed the IBM 701.

LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr. (born May 22, 1930) is an American surgeon, oncologist, and medical educator. He is the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine and has served in leadership positions for several healthcare organizations, including stints as president of the American Cancer Society and the American College of Surgeons.  Leffall was the first black president of both the American Cancer Society (1978) and the American College of Surgeons (1995).[2] He served as chairman of the board of directors for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation from 2002 to 2007 and for a few months in 2011 and 2012, when he resigned because of increasing responsibilities as provost at Howard.[5] He is on the board of directors of Mutual of America.[6]
He has received honorary degrees from Georgetown University, Amherst College and several other colleges.[7] 
***

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