[6][7] Crockett completed her obstetrics/gynecology residency at Sydenham Hospital in New York,[8] where she joined her husband, George Crockett, who was a member of the legal team defending 11 Communist Party leaders accused of teaching the overthrow of the Federal government, a violation of the Smith Act.

After medical school, Crockett became Michigan's first African-American woman to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and went on to practice medicine in Detroit for decades.

[11] The trip was led by Dr. Edward C. Mazique, the president of the NMA, with the purpose of assessing medical advances in other countries and exchanging best practices; it was also considered a goodwill mission to the Soviet Union.

Crockett met with President Jimmy Carter at the White House on behalf of the American Lung Association in November 1978.

Crockett, appearing with ventriloquist Shari Lewis and puppet Lamb Chop, presented Carter with a sheet of the association's Christmas Seals.

After her death in 1978, the college established a yearly award in her honor, the Dr. Ethelene Jones Crockett Distinguished Alumni Award, which goes to alumni who display “positive personal involvement for the betterment of mankind with his/her community, state, nation or world.”[21] Recipients have included Jon Lake, in 2018, and Laura Stanton, in 2017.

The Ethelene Jones Crockett Technical High School for Allied Health, Visual Communications and Cosmetology opened at 571 Mack Avenue in Detroit, MI.