Biographies
Linda A. Fisher (1947-2006)
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| (Photo courtesy of Linda A. Fisher, M.D.) |
Linda A. Fisher, a native of Westfield, N.J., received her bachelor’s degree from Douglass College in 1970 and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1975. She came to St. Louis for a residency in Internal Medicine at Jewish Hospital of St. Louis in 1978 and then entered private practice. Appointed in 1983 to the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, Dr. Fisher was the first woman physician to serve on the state licensing board for health professions. In 1984 Fisher was named chief medical officer for the St. Louis County Department of Health, acting as the agency’s spokesperson by communicating with the print and electronic media about public health issues. Fisher was an early and vocal advocate for AIDS awareness and testing. She served as chief medical officer until 1997 when the Department was reorganized and she assumed the position of director of Research. In 2000 Fisher moved to the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, to become a full-time writer.
From 1979 to 2000, Dr. Fisher was an assistant professor of Clinical Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine and associate professor of Clinical Medicine at St. Louis University School of Medicine. As councilor (1982-84) and secretary (1986) of the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society, Dr. Fisher was only the fourth woman in its 150-year history to serve as an officer.
For her efforts in educating the public and professionals about AIDS, Dr. Fisher received the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council’s Government Achievement Award in 1988. She received the Sandoz Medical Journalism Award in 1991 and the American Medical Women’s Association Community Service Award in 1992. In 1995 Dr. Fisher was named a KMOX-Suburban Journal Woman of Achievement.
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