"GRANDE DAME OF HARLEM" TO RECEIVE
BARNARD COLLEGE'S HIGHEST HONOR
New York, NY – May 11, 2007 – Dr. Muriel Petioni, physician, educator, community activist, and Harlem living legend, will accept the Barnard Medal of Distinction—Barnard College's highest honor—at the College's 115th Commencement ceremony to be held on May 15 at 2:30 p.m. on Barnard's historic Lehman Lawn in upper Manhattan.
Dr. Petioni will be honored for her almost six decades of service to the Harlem community, where she has worked diligently to ensure that the underprivileged and underserved, especially women and children, receive proper medical attention and equal access to health care.
Dr. Petioni's remarkable energy, passion, and dedication to community health work in Harlem have earned her legions of friends, fans and admirers. Accompanying her to Barnard's commencement will be fellow Harlem luminaries, the Honorable David N. Dinkins, 106th Mayor of the City of New York, and Percy Sutton, civil rights activist, famed lawyer, and entrepreneur. Rep. Charles B. Rangel is scheduled to send a video greeting of congratulations.
"It is hard to believe that Dr. Petioni celebrated her 93rd birthday this past January. She has managed to do so much and touch so many in such a short time," Mayor Dinkins said. "If asked, she will tell you that her secret lies in her ability to (as she says) ‘go with the flow and ride with the tide.'"
This year couldn't be more appropriate for Barnard, the historic liberal arts college for women, to honor Dr. Petioni. 2007 marks the 70th anniversary of her graduation from Howard University Medical School, where she was the only woman in the College of Medicine's Class of 1937. This trailblazing accomplishment became only the first of many in an illustrious career dedicated to community health care and the advancement of women in medicine that has spanned eight decades.
"Dr. Petioni's career is simply remarkable—not solely for her extraordinary accomplishments and the many barriers she's broken through, but for all that she has given back, to Harlem, to medicine, and to generations of women who've followed her," said Judith R. Shapiro, president of Barnard College. "We at Barnard are honored and humbled to present Dr. Petioni with the Medal of Distinction."
Born in Trinidad and raised in Harlem, Dr. Petioni knew from an early age that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her physician father. After graduating from medical school, interning at Harlem Hospital Center (one of the first white hospitals to integrate), and serving as a college physician at several universities around the country, Petioni returned to Harlem and set up a private practice in the same office her father had used on West 131st Street. She treated patients in the community for the next 40 years, sometimes making house calls, primarily to the poor, the underserved, mothers with small children, and the elderly.
In addition to running her private practice, Dr. Petioni worked tirelessly to serve her community in other ways—serving for thirty years as school physician in Central Harlem for the New York City Department of Health, founding the Friends of Harlem Hospital Center in 1987 to raise funds and provide support for the 120 year-old hospital, and sitting on the boards of numerous worthy organizations, including the Harlem Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the Columbia School of Social Work, the American Cancer Society, the Harlem Council of Elders, and the Handmaids of Mary.
Perhaps Dr. Petioni's greatest influence though has been felt by the generations of young female physicians she has mentored and encouraged. Dr. Petioni not only personally mentored countless individuals, but also built organizations dedicated to the advancement of women in medicine. In 1974, she founded the Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society for Women, a professional association dedicated to the empowerment of black women physicians. In 1976, she established the Medical Women of the National Medical Association, now known as the Council for the Consensus of Women, and served as its first president. Dr. Petioni has also worked diligently with the Coalition of 100 Black Women for over 25 years, developing a mentorship program to guide young black women into careers in medicine.
In addition to honoring Dr. Petioni on May 15, the College will celebrate the achievements of distinguished actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith; acclaimed writer Joan Didion; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof; and Vice President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and former President of Bryn Mawr College Mary Patterson McPherson. All five honorees will be awarded the Barnard Medal of Distinction.
About Barnard College
The idea was bold for its time. Founded in 1889, Barnard was the only college in New York City, and one of the few in the nation, where women could receive the same rigorous and challenging education available to men. Today, Barnard is among the strongest liberal arts colleges in the country, and the most sought-after women's college.
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Media Inquiries: Joanne Kwong, phone 212.854.7580, e-mail jkwong@barnard.edu
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