2021: Grace Huang, MD, Becomes Early Asian-American Dean of Faculty Affairs at HMS
Cato Laurencin, MD, PhD, Class of 1987
Alsoberry Kaumu Hanchett, MD, Class of 1914, First Hawaiian Graduate of HMS
Woody Myers, Jr., MD, MBA, Class of ‘77
Woodrow “Woody” Myers, Jr.
Claudine Gay, PhD, Inaugurated as Harvard University’s First Black President
Leading political science scholar Dr. Claudine Gay assumed office as the 30th President of Harvard University in 2023, making her the university’s first Black president since its founding in 1636 and the second woman president. Dr. Gay earned her PhD in political science from Harvard University in 1998. She returned to Harvard in 2006 as a professor of government and became professor of African-American studies a year later.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 virus was first documented in Wuhan, China, and spread to the United States in February 2020. A national emergency was declared on March 13, 2020, and ended on April 10, 2023. Harvard University shifted classes online in response to rising COVID-19 cases during the spring of 2020. Hybrid teaching began in the Fall 2021 semester, offering both in-person and online classes. The pandemic greatly affected hospitals across the country.
COVID-19 and the Stop AAPI Hate Movement
Xenophobic and racist rhetoric and incidents targeted at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) increased dramatically during the pandemic, leading to the creation of the Stop AAPI Hate movement and an organization by the same name. The hashtag #StopAAPIHate trended on social media platforms as people advocated for an end to targeted racial hate crimes.
Women Admitted to Harvard Medical School
Eighty-eight women applied to the Harvard Medical Class of 1949. Twelve women were accepted and matriculated in the Class of 1949. Women students were initially accepted on a ten-year trial basis. Gender parity was reached among incoming Harvard Medical School classes in 1994.
The First Women Graduate from Harvard School of Dental Medicine
In 1955, Aina M. Auskaps and Aina M. Meierovics graduated from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, making them the first women to graduate from the four-year DMD program. They were the first women DMD applicants to HSDM (in 1952), despite the Faculty of Medicine’s having voted to accept women into the dental school in 1943. Dr. Auskaps and Dr.
Peter Kai-Jen Yen, DMD, Class of 1945
Peter Kai-Jen Yen was born in Wuhan, China in 1922 and was an early Chinese student at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He graduated from Western China Dental School in 1945 and taught at Peking University before attending HSDM. After he graduated from HSDM in 1954, Dr. Yen taught at HSDM and practiced dentistry in Lynn, MA. Dr. Yen was married to Chin-ho Yu, who was also a physician.