Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCPP, FRCP (London), is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology and is Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine and Medical Oncology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Associate Director for Diversity Programs, Director of the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities, and Enterprise Vice President for Cancer Disparities at Jefferson Health’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.

Dr. Mitchell has spent her medical career helping individuals in medically underserved areas and has demonstrated the importance of community service and outreach especially to underserved populations. Her research in breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers and other GI malignancies involves new drug evaluation and chemotherapy, development of new therapeutic regimens, chemoradiation strategies for combined modality therapy, patient selection criteria and supportive care for patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

Dr. Mitchell served as the 116^th President of the National Medical Association, is a member of the American Medical Association, National Medical Association, Aerospace Medical Association, Association of Military Surgeons, Medical Society of Eastern Pennsylvania, ECOG/ACRIN Cancer Research Group, and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Because of her experience in the cancer research community Dr. Mitchell served as a member of the NCI’s Blue Ribbon Panel convened to advise the National Cancer Advisory Board on then Vice President Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative.  In 2019, Dr. Mitchell began service as a member of the President’s Cancer Panel and in 2020 she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Among her many honors, Dr. Mitchell was awarded the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Control Award for her significant commitment to research, education, and diversity. She has received the 2010 National Cancer Care Physician of the Year Award, the 2011 Practitioner of the Year Award by the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the 2012 Humanitarian Practitioner Award by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In 2013 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., was inducted into the National Historical Black College Hall of Fame, and also received the Octavius Catto Award for community service in the City of Philadelphia. In 2016, Dr. Mitchell was selected as the Historically Black College Alumnus of the Year and in 2017, she was inducted as an Honorary Member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology. In 2018, she received the Jefferson Health Achievement Award in Medicine and in 2019 the Ultimate Solution Award from Philadelphia Life Sciences, the Distinguished Citizen Award from Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and was honored by the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine with their Well-Being Award. In 2020 she was an honoree for the United Negro College Fund’s Mayor’s Masked Ball.  In 2021 she was the Tennessee State University Black History Month Alumni Honoree and the recipient of the AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship Award.  In 2023 she was named recipient of the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Distinguished Service Award.

In addition to her medical achievements, Dr. Mitchell is a retired United States Air Force Brigadier General, the first woman physician ever promoted to this rank.