After leaving Ghana at age 15, 26-year-old Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is now the first Black female neurosurgeon resident at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Abu-Bonsrah trained at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., and was matched last week to be a resident at the hospital, making her the first Black woman in the 30-year-history of the neurosurgical department’s residency program to be selected.
“What a way to begin the Sabbath! I still haven’t processed it yet but this is such an honor and a privilege to join the department at Hopkins to begin this next phase of my career,” she posted on Facebook after her historic selection.
Abu-Bonsrah gained international media attention for making history in America as a Black woman and an African, while receiving huge number of congratulatory messages on social media from Africans.
“I want to be remembered for serving my community, whether it is through providing quality surgical care or helping mentor the next generation of surgeons. Unique thing: Everything is special about the match. It will be a dream come true,” she was quoted in the John Hopkins medical news release.
“I am very much interested in providing medical care in underserved settings, specifically surgical care. I hope to be able to go back to Ghana over the course of my career to help in building sustainable surgical infrastructure,” she added.
Abu-Bonsrah, who is the first physician in her family, will continue her medical training during the seven-year residency program at the hospital, which was founded in 1889.
She follows the footsteps of Dr. Ben Carson, who was a neurosurgeon at the hospital and the youngest physician to ever head a major division at the hospital, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery.
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