ELDERS, JOYCELYN

born Aug. 13, 1933, Schaal, Ark., U.S. ne Minnie Joycelyn Jones American physician and government official whose effective advocacy for preventive medicine, especially for children and young adults, led to her appointment as U.S. surgeon generala post she was forced to resign owing to her frankly expressed opinions on sex education and other controversial issues. Minnie Joycelyn Jones came from a family of sharecroppers. At age 15 she entered Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, on a scholarship from the United Methodist Church. That year she saw a doctor for the first time in her life and subsequently determined to become a physician herself. In 1952 Jones graduated from college after only three years. She attended the University of Arkansas Medical School in Little Rock on the GI Bill and was the only woman to graduate in 1960; the same year, she married Oliver Elders. Following her internship at the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis (196061), she returned to Arkansas for a residency at the University of Arkansas Medical Center, where she rose to chief pediatric resident in 1963 and pediatric research fellow in 1964. She earned a degree in biochemistry from the university (M.S., 1967) and joined the faculty at the medical school in 1967, rising to full professor by 1976. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton appointed Elders to the office of director of public health in 1987. In that position she initiated a project to reduce the level of teen pregnancy through availability of birth control, counseling, and sex education at school-based clinics; achieved a 10-fold increase in early childhood screenings from 1988 to 1992 and a 24-percent rise in the immunization rate for two-year-olds; and expanded the availability of HIV testing and counseling services, breast cancer screenings, and around-the-clock care for elderly and terminally ill patients. As a result of these achievements, in 1993 Clinton, now president, nominated Elders for the post of U.S. surgeon general. Although her confirmation process was lengthy and controversialinvolving attacks on her financial dealings and her outspokenness on sex education and condom distributionshe was eventually confirmed. Her outspokenness, however, soon brought conservative pressure to bear on Clinton, and Elders was asked to resign in December 1994. In her role as pediatric endocrinologist, Elders wrote more than 150 articles on hormone-related illnesses and on children's growth patterns. Her autobiography, Joycelyn Elders, MD, written with David Chanoff, was published in 1996.