Dr. Brenda B. Spriggs

Rheumatologist Dr. Brenda B. Spriggs was born on March 11, 1944 to Jewell Spriggs and Carlton Spriggs in Houston, Texas. Spriggs attended Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas. She received her B.S. degree in biology from Fisk University in 1966, her M.D. degree from Meharry Medical College in 1970, her M.P.H. degree in health services management from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2000, and her M.B.A. degree from Claremont College Drucker School of Management in 2003.

Spriggs was named an N.I.H. Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco in 1972 before becoming an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco in 1974. In 1976, Spriggs opened her own practice where she served as a consultant rheumatologist. Spriggs then went on to serve as president of Children’s Hospital San Francisco’s Physicians Medical Group between 1985 and 1991. In 2006, she was awarded Clinical Professor Emerita at the University of California, San Francisco before co-founding Newell & Spriggs Consulting, LLC, a healthcare consulting company in 2009. She co-authored the book Focus On Your Best Health: Smart Guide to the Health Care You Deserve with her business partner, Dr. Glenda F. Newell in 2013. In 2014, Spriggs joined Healthline, Inc.’s medical review board and starting in 2017, she worked in telemedicine as a consultant for Telemed2U.

During her career, Spriggs became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She also became a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Rheumatology. Spriggs served on the boards of numerous organizations including the Providence Hospital Board in Oakland, California beginning in 1986 and the Beneficial State Bank Board and the Women’s Foundation of California Board, both beginning in 2006.

She has received several academic honors including inductions into Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, Mortar Board, and Beta Gamma Sigma and served as a Citizen Ambassador of the People-to-People Program in post-apartheid South Africa. Spriggs received numerous recognitions for her professional achievements, including Senator Barbara Boxer’s Women Making History Award in 2013 and magazine Directors & Boards’ "Directors to Watch” recognition in 2010.

Spriggs and her husband, Dr. Zealous D. Wiley, Jr., live in San Francisco, California. They have two children, Gabrielle S. Wiley and Zealous D. Wiley, III.

Dr. Brenda B. Spriggs was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 7, 2024.