By Sheryl Nance-Nash
Dr. Yvonne S. Thornton has seen her share of adversity over the course of her three decade career in the medical industry. But she’s always fought back, as evidenced by her awe-inspiring career accomplishments, including becoming the first African-American woman in the U.S. to be board-certified in high-risk obstetrics, and to be accepted into the New York Obstetrical Society. She also rose to the faculty rank of professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology when only 12 percent of female physicians attain this rank. A double-board certified specialist in obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine, Thornton says it was more of her gender, not race, which made her colleagues nervous. “They would rather work with a male of any race, even though [as a woman] you are more qualified.”
There’s no shortage of these stories in her book, Something to Prove: A Daughter’s Journey to Fulfill a Father’s Legacy, which was released in December 2010 and is the follow-up to her bestselling novel and later movie, The Ditchdigger’s Daughters. The Ditchdigger’s Daughters relayed the story of her father who moved his family from the tenements in Harlem to a small house in New Jersey that he built with his own hands from materials bought on a ditchdigger’s salary. His dream was that all his daughters (5 biological and 1 foster) would become respected doctors because he believed having that title would shield them from prejudice. Despite obstacles, four of his five biological daughters became doctors.
We spoke to Thornton about what it took to bring her father’s vision to fruition, her career and her family.
With all your accomplishments, the title of your book is a little puzzling. Do you still feel that you have something to prove?
All my life, I’ve been doing something outside of what a black woman was supposed to be doing. The book is a roadmap to encourage young women to follow their dreams. Women in my age group (60s) chose to have a career or a family, you didn’t do both. [But] I did. The book is about letting women know that they can do what they want.
You began your career as an assistant professor in OB-GYN and clinic director at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center. What were your early days like?
On my first day at Cornell I walked up to the reception desk in the OB-GYN department and introduced myself to one of the secretaries. I explained [that] I was the new staff doctor in maternal-fetal medicine. [The secretary] did a double-take before she told me to have a seat and wait. Conversations around us stopped. Several people walking by perked up as I announced myself. They weren’t rude, but it was clear I’d caught everyone by surprise. I was the only black person in sight. This was 1982, when a woman obstetrician was still a rarity; a black woman obstetrician was even more unusual. There was no space for me in the department’s office, so I got an office in the dismal sub-basement where the clinic hadn’t been updated since the 1930s. The walls were battleship gray and cold. I had no operating budget and was expected to teach, run the clinic and establish a private practice.
For years you were passed over for promotions and opportunities. What kept you there for so long and what was the tipping point that made you leave?
I will never know the true number of times that I was passed over. But there were two that I’m sure about. The last one was so blatant that I moved on. I stayed as long as I did because I didn’t want to leave my patients. They gave me the strength to [endure] the nonsense.
In the book you tell a lot of stories that kind of make you cringe about how you were treated in the profession. How did you keep it together?
My dad; I would tell him how I was thrown to the wolves and he would say, “it is what it is, Cookie. You’re not there to be loved, but to take care of sick patients.” So that would put things back in perspective.
With all that you went through in your career, all while raising two children, was it worth it?
I have no regrets. My mother and father prepared me for all the possibilities in my academic and professional career. When it came to being a wife and mother, my mother was my role model. She taught us that no amount of success at work would make up for failure at home.
How did you create a work-life balance?
I was like a lioness taking care of her cubs. I made sure I was in their lives. I never wanted to miss a school recital or a parent-teacher conference. I was at their chess tournaments and made time to do things like help make a Halloween costume. I will always be Dr. Thornton and Mrs. McClelland.
You’ve been married for 36 years. Your husband is also a doctor, an orthopedic surgeon. What was the secret for keeping together a marriage with two high profile, demanding careers?
We have always been there for each other. We understand each other. There’s a lot of respect and love. He is my strength, my soul mate.
Your parent’s wisdom still guides you. What have you tried to pass on to your children?
We trained them and raised them like we were raised – to strive for the best, to never stop, to never give up, even in the dark times, just keep going. Nobody can stop you but you. Our son, Woody, won numerous national chess championships. He went to Harvard and received his M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is a resident in neurosurgery. [Our daughter], Kimberly, was the first woman of color to win a national chess championship. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in studio art, got her master’s in socialmedical science at Columbia, and is a first-year medical student at Howard.
What do you think your parents would say about where you are in your life?
They are in heaven flapping their wings. My sisters and I were the “neighborhood joke.” They laughed at my dad for saying that we were going to be doctors. Well, Donald’s folly is now Donald’s legacy.
What do you want your legacy to be?
That I was one dark-skinned black woman who defied everyone, and that I would spend the hours, do whatever it took, to get the job done. I delivered more than 5,000 babies and have overseen 12,000 deliveries. I have my family. I have enjoyed my life.
