May Edward Chinn

May Edward Chinn grew up in modest circumstances, the daughter of a formerly enslaved father, and initially pursued music before a chance conversation redirected her toward medicine. She enrolled at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and in 1926 became the first Black woman to graduate from the institution.

Chinn faced significant barriers throughout her early medical career, being denied admitting privileges at most New York hospitals because of her race and gender. She responded by building an independent general practice in Harlem, often making house calls and, in the era before widespread car ownership among her patients, sometimes carrying medical equipment by hand across the neighbourhood.

Her most significant contribution came through her decades-long collaboration with cancer researcher Dr George Papanicolaou — namesake of the Pap smear — helping to develop and refine early cytology and cancer detection techniques at a time when cancer was frequently diagnosed only once it had become advanced and difficult to treat.

Chinn continued practising medicine and conducting cancer research well into her later years, eventually being honoured with degrees and awards recognising a career that spanned more than five decades. Her work in early detection helped establish screening practices that remain fundamental to modern cancer care.