Opening Doors: Contemporary African American
Academic Surgeons tells the stories of four pioneers
who exemplify excellence in their fields and who believe in
continuing the journey of excellence through the education
and mentoring of young African-Americans pursuing medical
careers. The exhibit also features other academic surgeons
from around the country, including five from Johns Hopkins,
who follow in the tradition of sharing their knowledge and
passing the torch to younger surgeons.
The exhibition opened simultaneously on Feb. 1 at the
National Library of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and the
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American
History and Culture in Baltimore. It will run through May
31, with a traveling exhibit taking to the road this
summer. A Web version is also available, on the National
Library of Medicine's Web site at:
www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/aframsurgeons/.
The four pioneers are Alexa I. Canady, the first
African-American woman pediatric neurosurgeon; Leffall D.
LaSalle Jr., a cancer surgeon and the first
African-American president of the American College of
Surgeons and the American Cancer Society; Claude H. Organ
Jr., a general surgeon and the first African-American to
chair a department of surgery at a predominantly white
medical school; and Rosalyn P. Scott, the first
African-American woman cardiothoracic surgeon.
Of the 13 other men and women profiled, five are from
Johns Hopkins: Malcolm Brock, Benjamin S. Carson Sr.,
Edward E. Cornwell III, Claudia Thomas and Levi Watkins.
Malcolm Brock, an associate professor of
surgery and oncology at the Kimmel Cancer Center, is
studying new biomarkers to detect lung and esophageal
cancers and predict their response to therapy. He is using
cancer's molecular code to reveal signatures of the disease
not detected through a microscope. In a process called
methylation, DNA letters are tagged with small methyl
groups that may interfere with protein production. Abnormal
levels of methylation are linked to many cancers and are
found in DNA that leaks out from tumors, and areas of
cancer spread. Methylation patterns, he says, could predict
the behavior of lung and esophageal cancers and flag those
most likely to recur. In surgery, this knowledge helps him
determine if he has removed the entire tumor. Brock, who
was born in Bermuda and studied and trained at Johns
Hopkins, also is exploring the rising incidence of lung
cancer in HIV patients and whether their tumors have unique
profiles. A Rhodes Scholar, he has received several
National Institutes of Health research awards and has been
honored by the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for research
excellence.
Benjamin S. Carson Sr. has been director of
Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's
Center since 1984. Both the first African-American and the
youngest person to hold this position, he also holds
appointments in Neurosurgery, Oncology, Pediatrics and
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the School of
Medicine. His clinical and research interests include
congenital spinal deformities, brain tumors, craniofacial
reconstruction and human dwarfism. He is renowned for his
expertise in performing cerebral hemispherectomy surgery, a
procedure in which half the brain is removed to help
control intractable seizures. Carson has participated in
the separation of five sets of twins joined at the head,
including the adult conjoined twins Laleh and Ladan Bijani
in 2003.
Edward E. Cornwell III is a professor of
surgery at the School of Medicine and chief of adult trauma
surgery at the hospital. Cornwell's pioneering research in
the care of critically ill and injured patients has changed
the way some trauma centers treat patients with gunshot
wounds. His experience and research in this field have led
him to become one of medicine's pre-eminent lecturers on
trauma care and violence prevention, especially with regard
to youth violence. Through his outreach project, "Hype vs.
Reality," he strives to educate the nation's youth about
the false images and messages the media presents in
glamorizing a culture of violence. Cornwell, who recently
served as president of the Society of Black Academic
Surgeons, has received numerous awards and citations for
his research and teaching in trauma and critical care, as
well as for his efforts in education, outreach and violence
prevention.
Claudia Thomas completed her orthopedic
residency at Yale in 1980 and became the first
African-American female orthopedic surgeon in the country.
After completing a fellowship in shock trauma at the
University of Maryland, Thomas was named an assistant
professor of orthopedic surgery at Johns Hopkins. She
trained orthopedic residents at the Baltimore City
Hospitals for a number of years and in 1985 moved to St.
Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where she worked in a
government hospital and developed a private practice. She
later returned to Johns Hopkins as an assistant professor
in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and in 2004 joined
two former mentees in a private practice in central
Florida.
Levi Watkins is associate dean for postdoctoral
programs and professor of cardiac surgery at the School of
Medicine and was the first African-American to achieve
these posts. While growing up in Alabama, Watkins was
exposed to widespread prejudice and to the early civil
rights movement, both of which would have lasting effects.
He became the first black student admitted to Vanderbilt
University Medical School and came to Johns Hopkins for his
surgical residency in 1970. Four years after he joined the
admissions committee of the Medical School in 1979,
minority representation had increased 400 percent. His
interest in worldwide human rights led him to initiate the
annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration at Johns
Hopkins in 1982, a tradition that continues to this day.
Opening Doors: Contemporary African American
Academic Surgeons is a collaborative effort between the
National Library of Medicine, the largest medical library
in the world, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, the largest
African-American museum on the East Coast and the second
largest in the country.
The exhibition is not intended to be encyclopedic but
rather to provide a glimpse into the contributions that
African-American academic surgeons have made to medicine
and medical education.
GO TO