Day 9 Black History Month 2021 - Dr. Alexa Canady
Dr. Alexa Canady (November 1950 – present)
For day nine of Black History Month, we’d like to highlight Dr. Alexa Canady, an American medical doctor and educator, who specialized in pediatric neurosurgery and was the first African-American woman to become a neurosurgeon.
Her career initially got off to a rough start, as she almost dropped out of college due to what she describes as, “a crisis of confidence.” She first attended the University of Michigan and it was there, that she got an opportunity to work in a genetics lab and found her love for medicine. After graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Zoology, she would go on to be accepted into the University of Michigan Medical School and graduated cum laude in 1975.
In her work as a pediatric neurosurgeon, she has worked with many young patients with many life-threatening illnesses, gunshot wounds, head trauma and other brain injuries. Throughout her 20 plus year career, Dr. Canady has helped thousands of people, with a large majority of them being age 10 or younger.
Dr. Canady has been recognized throughout her career, receiving the Michigan Children’s Hospital Teacher of the Year Award in 1984, the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award in 1993 and the Distinguished Service Award from Wayne State University Medical School in 1994.
“The greatest challenge I faced in becoming a neurosurgeon, was believing it was possible.”
“…if you do good work, the rest does not matter.”
– Dr. Alexa Canady
For day nine of Black History Month, we’d like to highlight Dr. Alexa Canady, an American medical doctor and educator, who specialized in pediatric neurosurgery and was the first African-American woman to become a neurosurgeon.
Her career initially got off to a rough start, as she almost dropped out of college due to what she describes as, “a crisis of confidence.” She first attended the University of Michigan and it was there, that she got an opportunity to work in a genetics lab and found her love for medicine. After graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Zoology, she would go on to be accepted into the University of Michigan Medical School and graduated cum laude in 1975.
In her work as a pediatric neurosurgeon, she has worked with many young patients with many life-threatening illnesses, gunshot wounds, head trauma and other brain injuries. Throughout her 20 plus year career, Dr. Canady has helped thousands of people, with a large majority of them being age 10 or younger.
Dr. Canady has been recognized throughout her career, receiving the Michigan Children’s Hospital Teacher of the Year Award in 1984, the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award in 1993 and the Distinguished Service Award from Wayne State University Medical School in 1994.
“The greatest challenge I faced in becoming a neurosurgeon, was believing it was possible.”
“…if you do good work, the rest does not matter.”
– Dr. Alexa Canady