Dr. Alexa Canady is the first African-American woman to become a neurosurgeon. She graduated from University of Michigan Medical School in 1975, and began her surgical internship in 1975 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She dealt with prejudice throughout her time at the hospital, such as being called the “equal-opportunity package.” When she became a neurosurgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she was voted one of the top residents. In 1984, she became the first African-American woman to become certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. From 1987 to 2001, she was chief of neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and has since helped thousands of pediatric patients.
Dr. Alexa Canady, PhD
Neurosurgeon