If you want to be something, you have to perceive that something is possible.
Alexa Irene Canady, MD, faced discouragement from her advisers when she first started following her dream to pursue a career in medicine. She then became the first Black woman to become a neurosurgeon in the USA. Her career has been an inspiration to countless young people that are passionate about neurosurgery. She actually almost quit college whilst she was initially studying maths, and describes this difficult time as a 'crisis of confidence', but luckily decided to apply to a minority scholarship with the University of Michigan.
Alexa's initial degree was in Zoology, but during her studies she worked in a genetics lab (in her Junior year), and it was there that she truly found herself by the possibilities of medicine and neurosurgery. As a Black woman, she sadly faced prejudice throughout her career - on the first day of her surgical internship one of the top administrators made passing comments at her, referring to her as fulfilling their 'equal-opportunity package', and she often found herself having to convince her superiors of her right to work in her field.
When asked how she tried to make a difference in her field, Dr. Canady stated that 'I tried hard to be accessible to patients and to make them unafraid of me so we could have free and open conversations. We also tried to arrange the patient care considering the needs of the families.' Anyone working within paediatrics of course understands the importance of those free and open conversations, and it was Alexa's remarkable expertise and talents in pediatric neurosurgery that truly shaped her career. Over the course of her twenty year career most of the thousands of patients who she helped were aged ten or younger - an incredible achievement.
After an initial residency with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Canady then worked at the Children's Hospital of Michigan from 1987, until she retired in June 2001 - and became chief of their neurosurgery department at only 36. She then actually returned to work, upon discovering that her new hometown had no paediatric neurosurgeons! Alexa then continued her work as a neurosurgeon until her second retirement that began in 2012.
Dr. Canady's illustrious career has been recognised many different times over the years, from being named Michiganer of the Year in 2002, to being awarded with the American Medical Women's Association President's Award earlier in her career in 1993. She is also a member of the Michigan Woman's Hall of Fame, the holder of two honorary degree , and a holder of the distinguished Service Award from Wayne State University Medical School. This list of accolades is of course very impressive, and a sign of the way in which Dr. Canady's work, and the work of those she taught, changed the lives of so many people over her career.