L. Julian Haywood, son of Dr. Thomas W. Haywood and Louise V. Hayley Haywood, graduated from Hampton Institute and Howard University College of Medicine. He served in the US Navy, on the medical faculties of Loma Linda University in California and the University of Southern California, and on the staff of the LA County + USC Medical Center, where he established one of the earliest coronary care units in 1966; it was named in his honor in 2016. He conducted pioneering cardiovascular research, led development of the first digital heart rhythm monitor, led the Sickle Cell Disease Research Foundation, and was a founder of the Association of Black Cardiologists. He was raised in the historic Sledge-Hayley-Haywood House in Warrenton, NC.