Black History Month: Dr. Miriam Rossi
Dr. Miriam Rossi completed both her undergraduate degree and master’s degree at the University of Iowa, specializing in dietetics, nutrition, and biochemistry. She later attended the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where she was the only Black student in the school’s first graduating class of 1970.
Dr. Rossi moved to Montreal where she completed her medical residency at McGill University. She eventually relocated to Toronto in the 1980s, where she became a practicing pediatrician at SickKids Hospital. Dr. Rossi joined the University of Toronto as a Department of Paediatrics professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She was also an associate dean of student affairs and admissions, a mentor to several students.
Alongside her significant roles at UofT, Dr. Rossi was actively involved in the community. She was instrumental in founding several organizations to tackle key issues of underrepresentation in healthcare affecting Black populations.
In 1993, Dr. Rossi established the Association for Advancement of Blacks in the Health Sciences (AABHS) alongside fellow healthcare practitioners at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. The goal of AABHS was to encourage Black and disadvantaged high school students to pursue their healthcare passions, addressing racial inequity in medicine.
In addition, she implemented one of the first summer mentorship programs in Canada that provided Black and Indigenous highschool students in Ontario the opportunity to learn about a variety of healthcare fields. In the same year, Dr. Rossi and the AABHS helped found Camp Jumoke for children with sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder that significantly affects Black populations. Dr. Rossi also helped create the TAIBU community Health Care Centre in Scarborough, wishing to improve ease of access to quality healthcare for Black communities.
In 2007, Dr. Miriam Rossi was a co-founder of the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario. Currently, it is the primary organization in Ontario supporting Black physicians. The association addresses the underrepresentation of Black physicians in the medical sector, advocating for equity, accessibility, and anti-colonial practices.
References
https://www.bpao.org/aboutbpao
About The Author
Thisandi Male Pathiranage is a third year of Psychology with a Minor in Art History at Queen’s University. She enjoys creating digital art, playing the guitar, and going down Wikipedia rabbit holes.