The First Female President of The National Medical Association, Edith Irby Jones, Was A Member of Delta Sigma Theta

Did you know that the first female President of the National Medical Association, Edith Irby Jones, was a member of Delta Sigma Theta? Jones was initiated into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. at Knoxville College.

Jones was an African American physician who was the first Black student to attend a racially mixed class in the Southern United States. She was the first African American to be accepted as a non-segregated student in the University of Arkansas Medical School. To pay for her tuition, Black and white residents of Hot Springs took up a collection to help her pay for her medical school expenses.

 After finishing school, Jones began practicing in Hot Springs.

In 1964, Jones became the second vice president of the National Medical Association (NMA). In 1985 she became the first woman president of the Council on Scientific Assembly for the NMA.

Jones passed away in Houston on July 15, 2019. For her wake, the sorors of Delta Sigma Theta held an Omega Omega service.

Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame: Dr. Edith Irby Jones

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