Claudia L. Thomas is the first female African-American orthopedic surgeon in the United States. She attended Medical School at Johns Hopkins University. She was the first African-American and woman to be admitted to the Yale Medical Program in orthopedics. She strives to increase the number of minority students in medical school and to help decrease racial bias in the healthcare industry. While in her undergrad at Vassar College she helped form the Students' Afro-American Society (SAS), whose members pushed for the creation of a Black Studies program at the college. She has overcome kidney failure which was exacerbated by a hurricane and is a cancer survivor.
