Helen Rodríguez Trías

Helen Rodríguez Trías was a Puerto Rican pediatrician and women's rights activist. She was the first Latina president of the American Public Health Association. In 2001 she was awarded the Presidential Citizen’s Medal.

She was born in Puerto Rico.  She moved to New York at age ten. At school she was treated poorly because of her race. Helen liked science and people. 

She studied medicine in Puerto Rico. She graduated when she was thirty one years old. Helen also became a mother during her life. Helen opened a place to take newborn babies if they are ill. This led to the newborn death rate in Puerto Rico decreasing by fifty percent. 

She moved back to New York. Helen worked for organizations and movements. She specialized in pediatrics. One time she saw a mother pass away from an abortion. Helen began fighting for abortion and sterilization rights. 

Helen Rodríguez Trías has saved many people, from newborns to women.  In 2019, First Lady Chirlane McCray announced that New York City would erect a statue honoring Dr. Rodríguez Trías in St. Mary’s Park, adjacent to Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. 

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Category:1929 births
Category:2001 deaths
Category:American physicians
Category:Puerto Rican scientists
Category:Puerto Rican activists