Lynne D. Richardson, 1976

Lynne Doreen Richardson '76 earned her B.S. in Biology/Life Science (Course VII) and in Management (Course XV) in 1976. During her four years at MIT, she worked with Admissions Director John A. Mims as a student aide, doing research for a minority applicant pool study.

To start with, Lynne came from her junior year in high school...She used to write a lot of speeches for the Black Students' Union presidents, then the boys would go out and give the speeches. She would sit back very quiet...but she was never docile.

John Mims in Technology and the Dream (MIT Press, 2003) by Clarence G. Williams

She went on to receive her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and has been in practice for more than 20 years. Beginning in the 1980s, Dr. Richardson has dedicated her career to ending health disparities and improving emergency care. She has done landmark work in EMS policy at the regional and state levels and has been leader and advocate in clinical care, education, and research to municipal, state, and federal policy. She has served as Chair of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Public Health and Injury Prevention Committee, ACEP’s liaison to the Commission to End Health Care Disparities, and on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016, Dr. Richardson was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and is currently the department vice-chair and professor of emergency medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.