Novello, Antonia Coello (1944-…), an American physician, served as surgeon general of the United States under President George H. W. Bush from 1990 to 1993. She was the first woman and the first Hispanic American to hold the position. As surgeon general, Novello focused much of her attention on raising public awareness about the dangers of alcohol abuse, smoking, domestic violence, and AIDS.
Throughout her career, Novello has worked to improve health care and education among women, children, and minorities. She has especially concentrated on the health-related problems faced by children, teenagers, and Hispanic Americans. She worked with health care organizations to promote childhood immunization and education programs to help prevent alcohol abuse by teenagers. As surgeon general, she urged makers of beer, wine, and cigarettes to stop advertisements aimed at young people. She also helped develop the National Hispanic/Latino Health Initiative, a program to improve health care education and services to the Hispanic American community.
Antonia Coello was born on Aug. 23, 1944, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico in 1965 and earned her M.D. degree there in 1970. That same year, she married Joseph Novello, a United States Navy flight surgeon. In 1978, she joined the Commissioned Corps, a division of the United States Public Health Service. She earned a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1982.
Novello has held several posts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and teaching positions at several universities. From 1999 to 2006, she served as commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. Since 2008, she has served as a vice president at Florida Hospital in Orlando.
