National Library of Medicine Acquires the Papers of Louis W. Sullivan, MD

March ten, 2020

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is honored to announce its acquisition of the papers of Louis W. Sullivan, MD, former United States Secretary of Well being and Human Providers (HHS). This is the initial collection of papers from a former HHS Secretary, acquired by the NLM and will be section of the archival collections of the world’s most significant health care library and institute of the National Institutes of Well being (NIH).

Louis W. Sullivan is an African American doctor who served as secretary of HHS from 1989-1993 and as dean and president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) from 1975-1989 and from 1993-2002. The National Institute on Minority Well being and Well being Disparities at NIH was initial established as an Business office underneath the NIH Director as a result of Secretary Sullivan in 1990 and was elevated to an Institute in 2010.

The Louis W. Sullivan Papers consist of Dr. Sullivan’s HHS chronological correspondence, action/briefing data files, day by day calendars, speeches, information clippings, White Property memorabilia, celebration photos, and honorary degrees and awards. The collection paperwork Secretary Sullivan’s initiatives to educate the community on the hazards of tobacco use, such as stopping the introduction of Uptown, a cigarette intended for promoting to minority communities introduce new and enhanced foodstuff labels initiate a $100 million minority male overall health and harm prevention initiative and boost the National Institutes of Well being price range about $five billion.

About his time as Secretary, Dr. Sullivan said: “I am grateful for the chance to have served as U.S. Secretary of Well being and Human Providers, throughout a substantial time to oversee the growth of its packages and contribute to the racial, ethnic, and gender range of its management. This enhanced the department’s outreach to all People.”

Dr. Sullivan acquired his undergraduate diploma from Morehouse Higher education in 1954 and his health care diploma in 1958 from Boston College School of Medicine.

Following holding positions at Harvard Professional medical School, Seton Corridor Higher education of Medicine, Boston College Professional medical Centre, and Boston Town Hospital, Dr. Sullivan returned to Morehouse Higher education in 1975 to serve as dean and director of the Professional medical Education Program. Underneath his management, the Professional medical Education Program became impartial from Morehouse Higher education in 1981 and was renamed Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). Dr. Sullivan served as president and dean of MSM prior to and next his tenure as secretary of HHS. He was also chair of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Schools and Universities from 2002-2009 and was co-chair of the President’s Fee on HIV and AIDS from 2001-2006. 

Dr. Sullivan is chairman of the Sullivan Alliance to Renovate the Well being Professions and is the founding president of the Association of Minority Well being Professions Colleges (AMHPS). He is the author of The Morehouse Mystique: Getting to be a Medical doctor at the Nation’s Most recent African American Professional medical School (with Marybeth Gasman, 2012, Johns Hopkins College Push) and his autobiography Breaking Floor: My Life in Medicine (with David Chanoff, 2014, College of Georgia Push).

The NLM History of Medicine Division properties the papers of popular community overall health leaders, such as other officials of the U.S. Office of Well being and Human Providers (and its predecessor the U.S. Office of Well being, Education and Welfare), such as Faye Abdellah, Edward Brandt, Emery Johnson, and June Osborn the papers of NIH Administrators Harold Varmus, Bernadine Healy, Donald Fredrickson, James A. Shannon, Robert Marston and the papers of Surgeons Common Regina Benjamin, Jocelyn Elders, C. Everett Koop, Antonia Novello, Julius Richmond, and Luther Terry.

Info about Dr. Sullivan’s papers and the hundreds of other manuscript collections held by the NLM History of Medicine Division is readily available as a result of NLM’s online finding aids, specific analysis guides to manuscript collections.