Happy Black History Month! Meet Helen Octavia Dickens
Since February is Black History Month, we feel that it is important to highlight someone from the black community who has made a difference in the world of medicine, and more specifically in the realm of women’s health. This year, we are choosing to honor Helen Octavia Dickens, a black female surgeon and professor who is known for her many contributions to the surgical and obstetrics field. Dr. Helen Dickens, MD, FACS, was born on February 21, 1909 in Dayton, Ohio. Helen was born to two hard-working parents who had each struggled to make a living with low-paying jobs, so they encouraged Helen to receive a good education so that she could pursue a professional career and live a more comfortable lifestyle.
After graduating from high school, she was accepted at Crane Junior College in Chicago, and was later accepted at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago. Dickens greatly benefited from the practical advice and support of mentors such as Dr. Elizabeth Hill, who was the first African American physician to graduate from the University of Illinois, and who helped Helen herself to register for medical school. Helen Dickens then earned her M.D. degree at the same institution in 1934, graduating as the only black woman in a class of 137 students.
After graduating, Dr. Dickens performed her residency in obstetrics at Provident Hospital in Chicago from 1933 to 1935, and then joined Dr. Virginia Alexander in a birthing-home practice in Philadelphia, PA, for seven years. After additional training at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine and another short time at Provident, Dr. Dickens was certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1945—the first African-American board-certified OB/GYN in Philadelphia. That same year, she was appointed director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mercy Douglass Hospital in Philadelphia. She became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1950, and joined the staff of Women’s Hospital—later taken over by the University of Pennsylvania—in 1951, where she was eventually named Chief of Obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr. Dickens later began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1965, starting as an instructor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Over the next 10 years she advanced through the ranks to be named a full-time professor in 1976, and eventually professor emeritus in 1985. Early in her tenure, she also served as Dean of the Office for Minority Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania. In her first five years in that role, she greatly increased the enrollment numbers of minority medical students. In addition to her general practice, Dr. Dickens provided obstetric and gynecologic care. Once again, she worked in difficult circumstances to help her patients living in extreme poverty. In one instance, she arrived at the home of a woman in labor to find that there was no electricity in her home. She had to move the bed to the window to conduct the delivery by streetlight. To address such problems, Dr. Alexander installed four beds at the three-story row house serving as the Aspiranto Health Home.
After six years working at Aspiranto, Dr. Dickens decided to expand her training in obstetrics and gynecology, returning to Provident Hospital for a specialist residency. In 1943, she married Purvis Sinclair Henderson, a fellow resident, and moved to Harlem Hospital in New York City to work under the guidance of esteemed surgeon and internist, Peter Marshall Murray. In 1945 she received her master of science degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and in 1946 she completed her residency at Harlem and was certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Dickens returned to Philadelphia in 1948 as director of the Mercy Douglass Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and, in 1950, became the first black woman fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Toward the end of her directorship in the late 1960s, Dickens also taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the next twenty years, she rose through the ranks, from instructor, through to professor, culminating in her appointment as professor emeritus in 1985. At the same time, she served on the staff of the Woman's Hospital in Philadelphia and later, the faculty of the Medical College of Pennsylvania. In patient care, Dr. Dickens concentrated on preventing some of the problems she had seen so frequently in her obstetrics and gynecology practice. Hoping to educate young women to empower themselves, she led extensive research into teen pregnancy and sexual health issues. She used the results of her wide-ranging survey to advise schools, parents, and health professionals on intervention strategies to lower the incidence of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. She received numerous honors for her work on sexual health for young and adult women, including awards from the Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia and the American Cancer Society. Her own daughter, Dr. Jayne Henderson Brown, has followed in her footsteps and practices, as her mother did, in Philadelphia.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s Black History Month spotlight of Dr. Helen Octavia Dickens! We love learning about women who have made a difference in pelvic health and have paved the way for more women and particularly women of color to join the field and to bring awareness to their communities! If you are interested in learning more about your own personal health, whether that be pelvic pain, pregnancy, or any postpartum complications, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us here or by giving us a call at 401.602.7006!