Cori Simpson, a University of Kentucky’s College of Health Sciences student, has a personal link to the Tuskegee syphilis study. This study, conducted from 1932 to 1972, observed untreated syphilis in Black men without their consent or treatment, resulting in over 100 deaths. Simpson’s grandfather, Clay Eddie Simpson Jr., Ph.D., was involved in the study’s aftermath.
In the fall semester of 2023, Simpson learned about the Tuskegee study in a class. She then contacted her grandfather, who disclosed his role in the study’s aftermath. Clay Simpson was the chief advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary on minority health matters. He played a key role in the research for former President Bill Clinton’s public apology for the Tuskegee study in 1997.
Clay Simpson’s career is notable beyond his involvement in the Tuskegee study apology. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with degrees in zoology and public health, and later earned a Ph.D. in preventive medicine and public health from the University of Oklahoma Medical Center. He also completed a program for health system management at Harvard Business School and received several honorary doctorates.