The HistoryMakers

Dr. Charles Harry Epps, Jr. has had an outstanding professional career as a medical pioneer and educator. He was born on July 24, 1930, in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from the city's Frederick Douglass High School. During his senior year, he was class president and valedictorian. He was also selected to be a delegate of the Maryland State Boys Senate, where he introduced legislation calling for the elimination of segregation of the state's public transportation, which the State Boys Senate passed.

Epps graduated high school in 1947 and enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1947 from Howard and received his M.D. degree with honors in 1955. After medical school, Epps completed his internship and residency in orthopedic surgery at Freedmen's (now Howard University) Hospital, in Washington. Following the completion of his residency, he served as captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.

After his honorable discharge from the Army in 1962, Epps returned to Howard University as a member of the College of Medicine faculty, and began a successful private practice.

At the age of thirty-three, Epps was appointed Chief of the Division of Orthopedic Surgery at Howard. During his tenure as chief and professor, Epps trained more African American men and women in orthopedic surgery than anyone in the world. He has also served Howard in various other capacities including serving as dean of the College of Medicine, vice president for health affairs, the acting CEO of Howard Hospital and as special assistant to the president for health affairs.

Epps retired from Howard University in 2001. He has contributed more than seventy publications and thirty book chapters and has given numerous lectures and scientific presentations. He also serves in a variety of professional organizations, including the American Orthopedic Association, where he was its first African American member, and later its president. He and his wife, renowned doctor Roselyn Payne Epps, live in Washington, D.C., and have four children.

Epps was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on March 16, 2003.