Dr. Anitha Mitchell Logan, an alumna of the College of Natural Sciences, is one of six winners of this year's Distinguished Alumnus Awards from the Texas Exes, the alumni association of the University of Texas at Austin. The awards, currently celebrating their 60th anniversary, are given annually to alumni who have distinguished themselves professionally and through service to the university.
"When we think of this 2018 Distinguished Alumna, we think 'trailblazer,'" The Texas Exes wrote in a Facebook post about Logan's award. "She has spent her career focusing on delivering health care to the underserved, especially women."
Logan's service to patients included extending cancer screenings to many more low-income women in southern California after receiving a grant that, according to her colleague Dr. Donald Henderson, had never before been awarded to an individual medical practitioner. Logan's lifelong pursuit of better health outcomes for patients previously earned her the title of "Woman of the Year" by the Los Angeles County Commission on Women in 2001.
Logan became a UT Austin undergraduate in the 1960s at the age of 16, and she was the first African American selected for a Cactus Yearbook Goodfellow award in 1964. The following year, she was the first African American chosen to join Mortar Board, a national honor society for women. Logan was also a member of Orange Jackets, an honorary women's leadership organization, and Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country's oldest African-American sorority.
Logan attended the university during the early days of integration on the UT campus, and she joined other students and faculty in protests over unequal treatment. According to UT Professor Bea Ann Smith, a college friend, Logan even played a role in the integration of Kinsolving dormitory when she called President Lyndon Johnson's press secretary to inform the president that his daughter was living in a segregated dorm at UT Austin. The then-president of the country contacted a member of the UT Board of the Regents about the issue, and the dorm was integrated the following fall.
After graduating with her zoology degree in 1965, Logan attended medical school at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. In 1969, she became the second African-American woman to earn a medical degree from that institution. During her senior year, she was elected to the National Medical Honor Society Alpha Omega Alpha.
Logan also was the first woman and first African American to serve as chief resident of medicine at UCLA School of Medicine, where she remains on the faculty.
In addition to her work in academia, Logan chose to build a private practice in Inglewood, California, serving a largely African-American community and providing healthcare to many who did not have easy access. She also formed an Independent Physicians' Association in the 1980s, when health care delivery systems were evolving. It grew into a prosperous business, and she is its managing partner.
Learn more about Dr. Logan from her colleagues and friends in this video from the Texas Exes.
Do you know a world-changing person who attended the College of Natural Sciences and deserves recognition? Nominate her or him for "Distinguished Alumni" and "Emerging Leader" awards in our next Hall of Honor.
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