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Natalia M. Tanner-Cain, M.D., was a dedicated pioneer in the field of pediatrics. She broke many barriers throughout her distinguished career. Tanner-Cain was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1921. As a child, she relocated with her parents to Chicago. Her father was also a physician. Her mother, Doris Murphy Tanner, a homemaker, was also a trailblazer, previously working as a chemist at Union Carbide and as a pilot with the Tuskegee Air Corp.
Tanner-Cain graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1946 and completed her residency at the University of Chicago. Tanner-Cain was the first African American accepted into the residency program. Soon after completing her residency, she and her husband, Dr. Waldo Cain, relocated to Detroit, Michigan, in 1951.
She faced significant discrimination in her career. Undeterred, she became the first African American board-certified pediatrician in Detroit. Tanner-Cain was also the first black physician on staff at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, which was a segregated institution at the time. She began her employment in 1951.
Also, in 1951, Tanner-Cain was the first African American woman fellow of the American Association of Pediatrics admitted to the Illinois chapter. Still, when she moved to Detroit in 1951, she did not readily gain acceptance among her peers in the Michigan chapter. The branch eventually accepted her after claiming to have lost her initial application. In 1983, she became the first woman and African American to serve as president of the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A tireless advocate for her patients, she witnessed first-hand the discrimination and disparities experienced by children of color and their families. Despite these obstacles, Dr. Tanner-Cain remained committed to making a difference by making healthcare accessible and high-quality. In 1969, she played a crucial role in building collaboration and communication between various medical organizations, including the Society for Adolescent Medicine and the National Medical Association, to expand children’s access to healthcare.
In addition to her groundbreaking work in medicine, Tanner-Cain was also a wife and mother, raising two children with her husband, Waldo Cain. She was also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Dr. Tanner also dedicated herself to education, serving as a clinical professor in the department of pediatrics at Wayne State University in Detroit, inspiring future generations of physicians.
Dr. Tanner-Cain died in 2018 at the age of 96.
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