About the Author...
Leroy William Vaughn M.D., M.B.A. is not only one of the world’s renowned ophthalmologists, but also one of the leading authorities on Black history. Basketball is Michael Jordan’s game. Black history and ophthalmology are Dr. Vaughn’s games. Dr. Vaughn’s medical credentials and expertise as a diabetic eye specialist and as a remarkable surgeon make him one of the leading practitioners in his field. His knowledge as an historian is equally as outstanding.

Dr. Vaughn’s patients swear by him for his medical skills. Historians marvel at him because of his talents as a researcher and writer on the subject of Black history. As a lecturer, he’s one of the most in-demand speakers in the nation. Like magic, Dr. Vaughn can rattle off facts on Black history like an orator recites a speech he has practiced on delivering for days. When it comes to reciting the roles Black people have played in world history, Dr. Vaughn has dazzled some of the most learned minds in America.

Dr. Vaughn didn’t just decide to write a book on Black history. This has been his passion and his life’s mission! Academically, Dr. Vaughn has the knowledge and the talents to make his life’s work a reality on the pages of this book. Dr. Vaughn was rooted and grounded in Black history as a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1969, after a two-year premedical study tour at the University of Vienna in Austria. In addition to Dr. Vaughn, Morehouse College has produced some of the most prominent and learned scholars in the world including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, and Dr. Charles Finch. Dr. Benjamin Mays, one of the world’s most noted educators and a mentor to Dr. King, was president of Morehouse College from 1950 until 1967, and set an extremely high standard for all Morehouse graduates.

Medically speaking, Dr. Vaughn is tops in his field. He received his medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, where he also received the Franklin C. McLean Award in 1972, as the most outstanding Black medical student in the nation. He interned at the Department of Medicine in Chapel Hill, NC, and completed his Ophthalmology fellowship and research training at Harvard University’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital in 1979. Dr. Vaughn was certified as a Diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1978, after scoring in the top three percentile nationally on the written examination. Moreover, he was named as an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology’s oral examinations in 1984.

In addition to being a brilliant scholar, Dr. Vaughn is also a community leader. For giving his time and his talents to the community, he was honored by the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, the State of California, and the Aesculapian Honorary Society.

— Brad Pye, Jr.

 
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