In 1910, American educator Abraham Flexner authored a report stating that African American doctors should be “focused on social hygiene, not surgery.” The Flexner Report and his statements on African Americans in medical education was the tipping point for closure of five of the seven African American medical schools in the 20th century. Despite the report’s negative effects, African American doctors have been successful in all fields of medicine and continue to play pivotal roles in the development of medicine and biomedicine globally. Dr. Imanni Sheppard will address this history in her presentation, "Flexner: The Architect of Medical Inequity."