Made for Medicine

“Medicine was what I was made for.”

That was the realization that Janet Mitchell, MD (1950–2019), made later on in life. But at the beginning, she grew up in government housing in Lexington, Kentucky, attending segregated schools for the majority of her childhood before a government scholarship allowed her to pursue her undergraduate degree at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She earned her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine, where she routinely saw patients from the most low-income neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., during her rotations at District of Columbia General Hospital. Dr. Mitchell’s career began in 1980, just before the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. While her work largely focused on HIV and AIDS, timing wasn’t the only factor guiding her focus: Looking back on her upbringing, her medical training, and her time spent working at Harlem Hospital Center in New York, she said, “There but by the Grace of God go I. I have ever since devoted myself to the underserved and the most disenfranchised.” This sentiment is more than evident in both her approach to her work and its scope.

The AIDS epidemic was a novel event, and Dr. Mitchell’s response was naturally novel on several levels as a result. During her tenure as the chief of perinatology at Harlem Hospital Center, where she ran the largest prenatal program for pregnant women with substance use disorder in New York City, Dr. Mitchell was known for sending Harlem Hospital staff into neighborhoods to find patients who had missed their appointments. She refused to turn away women who were infected with HIV but didn’t have insurance. She also understood and shared with fellow researchers the unique factors that affected whether women of color could be recruited into and retained in clinical studies, such as issues with transportation, childcare, or time; lack of incentives to participate in the program; and “problematic attitudes” from clinic staff. With Dr. Mitchell’s recommendations to follow, researchers were able to find improved success in recruiting and retaining women of color for clinical studies.

Dr. Mitchell broke ground in research, too, laying the academic foundation for progress in care for generations of Black women to come. In 1994, she successfully lobbied the National Institutes of Health to include pregnant Black women in AIDS treatment trials, a goal she pursued to ensure that her patients had “all the options available to them.” She authored more than 50 articles and chapters about her areas of focus, received major grant funding from CDC to study perinatal HIV and AIDS education and reduction and pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes in Black women, and developed protocol to improve treatment of pregnant women with substance use disorder. Her advocacy on behalf of Black women, pregnant women, and women with substance use disorders ensured that some of America’s most vulnerable populations did not suffer in silence or anonymity.

Dr. Mitchell’s achievements have echoes that resound through medicine today. Her legacy is commemorated by a wealth of accolades, awards, research advancements, and lives saved.

Learn more about Dr. Mitchell.

ACOG’s 2024 Women in Medicine Month series, centered around the theme Innovators in Ob-Gyn Equity, highlights women throughout history who have made novel contributions to their patients, their profession, and their community. Read our other Women in Medicine Month stories to learn more.