Diana Ross’ big sister’s name is Barbara Ross-Lee. They once both had a passion for music and used to sing together with their brothers and sisters, but eventually her sister chose a very different path from Diana.
Get this though: While Diana is a big time mega superstar in music, her sister is practically a superstar in her own field. They couldn’t have chosen more different life paths, that’s for sure.
Dr. Ross, M.D.
Barbara Ross-Lee is a very well known osteopathic doctor, which as she explained, means this: “We do everything that M.D. physicians do. In addition to that, we are trained to use our hands and work with the musculoskeletal system.”
Like her sister, Diana, did in the music, Barbara’s credentials are off the radar in the medical world. So we’ve compelled a quick list of them:
1. Barbara also worked in private practice for the U.S. Public Health Service for many years, and served on numerous committees.
2. In 1993, Ross-Lee became the first African American woman dean of a United States medical school. She remained dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of Ohio University until 2001. During her tenure there, she reformulated the entire course of study, and drafted a women’s curriculum, earning a reputation as a “change agent.”
3. Ross-Lee and her husband, Edmond Beverly, have raised five children—two daughters and three sons—all of whom have pursued professional careers.
Dr. Ross-Lee has won many awards for her work in the medical field and has published more than thirty scholarly articles addressing a variety of medical and health-care issues.
4. In 2001, Dr. Ross-Lee was appointed vice president for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs at the New York Institute of Technology, and in 2002, she became dean of the New York Institute of Technology’s New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Ross-Lee said that she is the reason for her little sister, Diana Ross’ success, stating:
“If it wasn’t for me, she (Diana) wouldn’t have been successful.”
Dr. Ross-Lee said with a grin, recalling high school years spent in a Detroit housing project, she continued:
I was responsible for watching out for Diana, taking her with me, making sure she did right. Therefore I am the one who is responsible for her. I molded her into what she is today. She’s the choir and I’m at the pulpit.
And there it is folks! It sounds like Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee is just as no-nonsense and “bossy” as her lil’ sis.’ We can’t be mad at that!
