South-Paul has dedicated her career to improving community health and rectifying healthcare disparities in America, especially those that affect people in poverty and people of color. In 1983, she became a professor at the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), where she taught family medicine and researched the benefits of exercise and maternal-child health along with her work on
health disparities. In 2001, she became the first woman and first African-American person at the University of Pittsburgh to hold a permanent chair position, when she was appointed the Andrew W. Mathieson Professor Department Chair. == Honors and awards ==