Have you peeped Google today? It's all about Helen Rodriguez Trias, a famed pediatrician and activst.
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The search engine site, which sometimes uses its homepage to honor prominent figures, is highlighting the influencer to celebrate what would have been her 89th birthday.
Born in New York City in 1929, Rodriguez Trias was a gifted student. Her grades were always stellar, and she particularly took an interest in science.
When her family moved to Puerto Rico, their homeland, she enrolled into the University of Puerto Rico’s medical school to pursue a career in medicine. She said, it "combined the things I loved the most, science and people,” Google wrote.
After graduating with the highest honors, she opened a practice on the island and then moved it to New York City at Lincoln Hospital in South Bronx. She later became the director of the Department of Pediatrics there and developed programs to help abused children and families affected by HIV and AIDS.
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Rodriguez Trias also founded the New York Latino Commission on AIDS, and became the first Hispanic American woman to serve as president of the American Public Health Association.
Over the years, she expanded her efforts, working with health institutions and experts across the globe to improve the lives of families in Central and South American, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In 2001, she died of cancer at age 72. Before her death, former President Bill Clinton awarded her with the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the United States.
And now Google is paying tribute. Check out the doodle archive to see her animation.
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