Novello, Antonia C (1944– )

Pediatrician and public health official. She left private practice in 1978 to join the US Public Health Service. In 1990 she was appointed its director and surgeon general of the USA, the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the position.

Novello was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She graduated from medical school at the University of Puerto Rico (1970) and had her residency and subspecialty training in pediatric nephrology at the University of Michigan (1974) and Georgetown University (1975).