Alonzo Smythe Yerby


Alonzo Yerby was an American physician and academic who served as the Associate Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He previously served as New York City Hospitals Commissioner, as a department head and professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
He was the first black chairman of a department at the public health school, and the first black to be New York City Hospitals Commissioner, heading the city's hospitals department. He is the namesake of the Harvard Chan Yerby Fellowship Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Early life and education

Yerby was born in Augusta, GA on October 15, 1921 to Rufus Garvin Yerby and Wilhelmina Ethel Yerby . One of his siblings was Frank Yerby, American writer who published 33 books during his career. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Chicago in 1941, and served in the United States Army during World War II. Yerby then earned his M.D. from Meharry Medical College in 1946, followed by his Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1948.

Career

While serving in the Army during World War II, Yerby was a member of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. In 1949, he became Deputy Chief of Medical Affairs in the Office of the Allied High Commission.
After graduating from the Harvard School of Public Health, Yerby held administrative posts in New York's Department of Health and Welfare. He later served as the New York City Commissioner of Hospitals, appointed by Mayor Robert F. Wagner and reappointed in 1966 by Mayor John Lindsay. From 1966 to 1982, Yerby was a Professor of Health Services Administration at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Yerby is credited with helping craft the Medicare program with Rashi Fein of Harvard Medical School.
1980 and 1981, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs in the United States Department of Health and Human Services, serving under Secretary Patricia Roberts Harris at the end of the Carter Administration.
From 1982 to 1989, he served as a Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Honors

Yerby was a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the New York Academy of Medicine. He is credited with several African American 'firsts' in public health and health services administration.

Personal life

Yerby died in Jamaica Plain, Boston in 1994 at the age of 72.