Millicent Comrie once got a failing grade in a surgery class because she was told that she “does not speak English.” Comrie, who was fluent in English but spoke with a Jamaican accent, asked for a new professor. But that was not her only obstacle: in her second year of medical school, she was studying for her final exam when she went into labor with her daughter. She brought the final exam to the hospital with her.
Comrie, who speaks German and Spanish in addition to English, is a pioneer in treating uterine fibroids and a leading force in women’s health care in New York. Director and founder of the Brooklyn Heights Women’s Health Center at Maimonides Medical Center, she has helped many women avoid hysterectomies and has been called a “preserver of fertility in black women.”
Treating every patient like a family member, she believes in listening to them and taking the time to counsel them. “My desire to improve women’s health is the driving force behind my work,” Comrie told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper. “Education is a strong weapon in the hands of patients, surgeons and other health care professionals.”
Comrie is also a founding board member of the Red Hook Initiative, a nonprofit “creating change from within” for 0ver 6,500 residents of Brooklyn’s historically underresourced Red Hook public housing community. She has received widespread recognition for her work and service, including the Marcus Garvey Award for Community Service, the Leader in Medicine Award from the Society of Foreign Consuls, and the Order of Distinction from the government of Jamaica.
