Locality
Richmond
Occupation
Public Health Advocate
Biography
Florence Neal Cooper Smith first learned about sickle cell disease as a child while reading books in her doctor’s office during the 1940s. After graduating in 1951 with a biology degree from Virginia Union University, she started a career as a medical technician specializing in burn research at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV, now VCU Medical Center). Spurred by her interest in sickle cell anemia, a genetic blood disorder that causes crippling pain episodes, she later completed graduate studies in pathology at MCV. In 1969 she organized Richmond’s first citywide survey to determine public awareness about sickle cell disease. After passage of the 1972 National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act, she co-founded the Virginia Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness Program at MCV, one of the original 19 federally funded sickle-cell screening clinics in the nation.
Regarded as the “Mother of Sickle Cell Disease” in Virginia, Smith and her advocacy helped pave the way in 1989 for the mandatory statewide testing of the disease in all newborns. Since retiring as program director in 1995, Smith has continued to advocate for a better understanding of and increased funding for the study of sickle cell disease at the local, state and national levels. In 2014, the MCV Foundation established the Florence Neal Cooper Smith Professorship, one of the few named for an African-American woman in the United States, to support cutting-edge research aimed at finding a cure for sickle cell disease.
Nominated by Paul Brockwell Jr.
2026 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honoree.
Regarded as the “Mother of Sickle Cell Disease” in Virginia, Smith and her advocacy helped pave the way in 1989 for the mandatory statewide testing of the disease in all newborns. Since retiring as program director in 1995, Smith has continued to advocate for a better understanding of and increased funding for the study of sickle cell disease at the local, state and national levels. In 2014, the MCV Foundation established the Florence Neal Cooper Smith Professorship, one of the few named for an African-American woman in the United States, to support cutting-edge research aimed at finding a cure for sickle cell disease.
Nominated by Paul Brockwell Jr.
2026 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honoree.
File Citation(s)
Photograph courtesy of Florence Neal Cooper Smith.