Andrea A. Hayes Dixon: The First Black Woman Dean of the Howard University College of Medicine

Andrea A. Hayes Dixon was appointed dean of the Howard University College of Medicine. When she takes office on October 3, she will be the first Black woman to lead the medical school in its 154-year history.

“I am truly honored and humbled to lead the outstanding Howard University College of Medicine,” said Dr. Hayes Dixon. “The responsibility of educating the nation’s next generation of leaders in medicine, is an enormous responsibility that I take very seriously.

Before joining the faculty at Howard University, Dr. Hayes Dixon was the surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery at the University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital. Earlier, she was chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

In 2004, Dr. Hayes Dixon became the first African American woman in the nation to become a board-certified pediatric surgeon. In 2006, she became the first surgeon in the world to perform a high-risk life-saving procedure in teens with rare forms of abdominal cancer.

A native of Los Angeles Hayes Dixon earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She then earned a medical doctorate from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.