Dr. Bernard Gipson has racked up a long list of firsts in his 86 years.
He was the first among his family of 10 brothers and sisters to go to college. In Colorado just after World War II, he became the first board-certified African-American surgeon in the state.
And in the late 1960s, he became the first African-American admitted to the Colorado Medical Society.
Friday, he scored another first – he became the first recipient of an annual award that will bear his name: The Dr. Bernard F. Gipson Sr. Health Leadership Award.
The award, created by Denver’s Center for African American Health, is in recognition of Gipson’s “lifetime of caring for the citizens of Colorado.”
The center works to promote health through medical screenings, seminars and partnerships with churches that serve the African-American community.
At age 13, Gipson had appendicitis – and was operated on by an African-American doctor in the east Texas town of Marshall.
That experience helped Gipson decide his path.
Texas had no medical schools for African-Americans then, so Gipson went off to Washington, D.C., to Howard University.
Gipson entered medical school in 1944 – in the midst of World War II – and the government paid for his education. It also meant he would have military obligations.
From Howard, he went on to a surgical residency in Boston, where he was the only African- American doctor in the hospital.
In 1954, Gipson became a U.S. Air Force captain, and was sent to Lowry Air Force Base Hospital as chief of surgery.
When his tour there ended, Gipson went for an interview with the dean of the University of Colorado medical school.
“He said, ‘I believe we’re going to find a place for you,”‘ Gipson recalled.
They did and Gipson served on the university’s surgery faculty for more than 30 years,
Along the way, he treated or got to know many of Denver’s African-American residents.
He helped organize doctors to offer free treatment in the 1960s to people who otherwise couldn’t afford medical care.
Being the only African-American wasn’t always easy, Gipson said. “There were some tough days,” he said, “but I enjoyed it.”
Staff writer Karen Augé can be reached at 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com.
