Coles was born in Kansas city and became the supervisor of the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Topeka Kansas from 1950 for a period of 8 years. While working at the hospital Coles began studying her Bachelor of Science (BS) at Avila College in Missouri, graduating in 1958, and then attended the Catholic University of America to study her Masters of Science (MS) in 1960 and her PhD in 1967.[2] Coles became the director of nursing at Freedman's Hospital from 1961–1968, when as act of Congress to transfer Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing over to Howard's jurisdiction, and Coles became the dean of the School of Nursing in 1969.[3]
Coles died on 3 Feb 2015 and left a legacy in the form of scholarship fund in her name at Howard University's College of Nursing.[4]
^Brown, G (2015). "Remembering Dr. Anna Bailey Coles (Founding Dean of the Howard University College of Nursing)". The ABNF Journal. 26 (2): 28. PMID26197631.
^Henderson, Ashyia N. (1994). Who's who among African Americans (26 ed.). Detroit, MI: Gale. p. 258. ISBN9780787636340.
^Carney Smith, Jessie (2013). Black firsts : 4,000 ground-breaking and pioneering historical events (Third ed.). Detroit: Visible Ink Press. ISBN9781578593699.
