Audrey Forbes Manley (born March 25, 1934) is an American pediatrician and public health administrator. Manley was the first African-American woman appointed as chief resident at Cook County Children's Hospital in Chicago (1962), as well as the first to achieve the rank of Assistant Surgeon General (Rear Admiral) in 1988. She later served as the eighth president of Spelman College.
Early life
Audrey Elaine Manley (née Forbes) was born on March 25, 1934, in Jackson, Mississippi. She was the eldest of three daughters in a tenant farming family. Manley was inspired to pursue medicine after the death of her maternal grandmother as well as with the encouragement from her seventh-grade science teacher.
Education
In 1951, Manley graduated as the class valedictorian from Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. She then attended Spelman College, where she majored in biology, with a double minor in chemistry and mathematics.
Career
In 1962, Manley began her medical career and completed her residency in Chicago by being appointed as the first African-American woman to be chief resident as Cook County Children's Hospital. During her residency, Manley taught pediatrics at the Cook County School of Nursing. In 1976, Manley was appointed as a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service. Additionally, Manley studied sickle cell disease and fought for government funding of sickle-cell research.
Beginning in 1989, Manley held a host of government jobs with the U.S. Public Health Service, including becoming the first black woman to serve as principal deputy assistant for public health (1989), member of the U.S. delegation to UNICEF and the UNICEF/WHO Joint Committee on Health Policy (1990-1993), deputy surgeon general (1994), and co-founder acting deputy assistant secretary for minority health.
Spelman presidency
From 1997 to 2002, Manley served as the 8th president of Spelman College, a historically black college for women in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the first alumna to be elected president of the college, carrying on the legacy of her husband, Dr. Albert E. Manley, who was the first African American and male president of Spelman College from 1953 to 1976. During her tenure, the college continued to achieve high rankings in multiple areas, including the second-highest producer of black medical students. Additionally, Spelman joined Division II of the NCAA and received a chapter in Phi Beta Kappa.
Manley also demonstrated her passion for service with Crossroads Africa where she ran a children's ward in a Nigerian hospital. Additionally, she worked in San Francisco to give medical services to children addicted to drugs.
The Albro Falconer Manley Science Center at Spelman College was partly named for Dr. Manley in 2002.