Vera Joseph Peterson.

• Position: DEATHS

SPRINGFIELD Vera Joseph Peterson, died peacefully, Saturday, January 26, 2008, in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was 98. Born in a small village in St. Anns Parish, Jamaica, W.I., Dr. Joseph, as she was known professionally, came to the United States through Ellis Island in 1919. She attended George Washington High School in New York City and won a scholarship to Barnard. She was one of the first African-American graduates of Barnard College where she earned Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and graduated in 1932.

Dr. Joseph earned her medical school degree at the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University graduating AOA in 1936. She subsequently did an internship at Harlem Hospital. In 1938, she married Dr. Jerome S. Peterson, also a graduate of Columbia University Physicians & Surgeons graduate of 1931. From 1940 to 1942, they lived in Puerto Rico where they managed several tuberculosis clinics. Returning to New York, Dr. Joseph was a physician and assistant to the director at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union Health Center. In 1950 the family moved to Beirut, Lebanon where Dr. Joseph was an assistant professor of medicine at the American University of Beirut while her husband worked with the United Nations. The family relocated to Geneva, Switzerland in 1953 when her husband accepted a position with the World Health Organization. In Geneva, Dr. Joseph was active with the Medical Womens International Association and served as its honorary secretary. She was a member of the Governing Board of the International School, and in 1958 became consultant to the European regional Office of WHO for the advisory group on public health and aging.

The couple returned to the United States in 1964...