Dental
“It was expected that women would not be good in operating a dental practice because they didn’t have business experience” But women have been managing time, money and resources for years.” – Juliann Bluitt Foster
Juliann Bluitt Foster was a dentist who was the first African-American woman to graduate from dentistry school. She also went on to become the first woman President of both the American College of Dentists and the Chicago Dental Society, in the span of 2 years (1992 & 1993).
Julian Bluitt Foster was born on June 14, 1938 and raised in Washington, D.C. Her parents worked steady jobs one as a teacher and the other as a payroll clerk. Her first experiences with dentistry came from her visits to the orthodontist from a young age. From a young age Foster became fascinated with dental care because of her own issues, having a wide gap in her front teeth and the sacrifices her parents took to ensure she had the care she needed. She started off by receiving an undergraduate in zoology from Howard University and later went on to pursue her doctorate in dentistry also from Howard.
Moving on from her education and onto her career, after graduating from Howard, Foster moved to Chicago where she served a number of different positions before in 1980, working as a director at Health Care Service Corporation. As stated earlier, in 1992 she became the first woman to become the president of the Chicago Dental Society. Alongside that she became the first woman in the American College of Dentists’ 75-year history to serve as president.
Juliann Bluitt Foster broke a lot of barriers in the dental field, going on to achieve a plethora of milestones throughout her life! She may not have invented anything, but she did make a name for herself and overcome over 75-year old obstacles that were in her path to success.