E. Lorraine Baugh

Nurse and healthcare executive E. Lorraine Baugh was born on October 25, 1938 in Boston, Massachusetts to Margaret and James Middleton. Baugh joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1956 and later became a registered nurse and Second Lieutenant. She graduated from the Boston City Hospital School of Nursing in 1961 and went on to earn both her B.S. and M.S. degrees in nursing education in 1964 and 1965, respectively, from Boston University. She later pursued her Ed.D. degree in educational administration at Boston College and completed all requirements except her dissertation in 1990.

From 1961 to 1964, Baugh worked as a staff nurse at Boston City Hospital before being hired in 1965 by Northeastern University as an assistant professor of nursing. In 1968, she became a program coordinator at Opening the Doors Wider in Nursing, Inc.; and from 1970 to 1973, she was executive director of Nursing Education Opportunities, Inc. At the same time, she was serving as a flight nurse and training officer, rising to the rank of captain before receiving an honorable discharge in 1977. In 1973, Baugh was also appointed president and executive director of Harvard Street Neighborhood Health from 1973, a position she held until 1981. In 1981, Baugh joined the faculty at Boston University’s School of Public Health as an assistant professor. She also served as an associate professor of management and chair of the Health Services Administration Program at Lesley College Graduate School outside Boston, Massachusetts from 1983 to 1990. In 1985, Baugh assumed the responsibilities of her late husband’s construction and architecture consultant firm until 1990, when she joined the Harvard Community Health Plan as its health center administrator and project manager. She then served as president and chief executive officer of Charles River Hospital in Wellesley, Massachusetts, from 1995 to 1996.

In 1996, she became president and CEO of the Lena Park Community Development Corporation.

Baugh co-founded the National Black Nurses Association in 1971 and served as its president from 1979 to 1983. She also co-founded the New England Regional Black Nurses Association in 1973 and was its president until 1976. From 1985 to 1995, Baugh served as the first chair of the Board of Trustees at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions.

During her career, Baugh has received numerous honors for her work, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Nurses Association in 2008 and the Black Achievers Award in Business and Education from the Greater Boston YMCA. She also received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Endicott College in 2002 and from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 2018.

Baugh was married to Dalton Louis Baugh from 1969 to his passing in 1985. She resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

E. Lorraine Baugh was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 13, 2023.