Black History - Dr. Ben Carson's Gifted Hands
Youngest Director of John Hopkins Hospital's Pediatric Neurosurgery
Feb 1, 2009
After all, his path to success is uncommon in medical circles. There was no family or community medical pioneer for Dr. Ben Carson to follow when he was a child trying to find his way. In fact, medicine was the furthest thing from Dr. Caron’s mind when he was a child. What he did think about was how to get even with other kids who angered him. On top of that not only did Dr. Ben Carson not see himself as smart, he thought he was unintelligent.
Dr. Ben Carson’s roots are similar to many teens that grow up in troubled neighborhoods. Dr. Ben Carson did not have a privileged childhood. Instead he grew up financially poor and absent high standing social status. There are no exclusive private schools in Dr. Ben Carson’s childhood resume. His peers echoed the assessment he made of himself and nicknamed him “dummy”.
Born on September 18, 1951 in Detroit, Michigan to Robert and Sonya Carson, Ben (full name Benjamin) and his brother, Curtis, watched their mother work long hard hours as a domestic worker. Times got particularly hard after his parents divorced when he was eight years old and his mother was left to raise and care for her two sons alone.
Young Ben wasn’t crazy about school. Yet, his mother was firm. She encouraged her sons to visit the library and assigned them to complete two book reports a week. She also monitored how much television they watched. Still Ben struggled. He was often angry. When he was 14 he stabbed a boy with a camping knife. It was a turning point in Dr. Ben Carson’s life. He thought about what would happen if he continued to express his anger recklessly. He made he right personal changes and graduated from high school with honors. Years later in 1973 he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University. Four years later in 1977 he earned a medical degree from the University of Michigan. He was only 33 when he became the head pediatric neurosurgeon at John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Maryland, an achievement that made him the hospital’s youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery ever.
In 1994 Dr. Ben Carson and his wife, Candy, started The Carson Scholars Fund, Inc. The non-profit organization helps children to succeed at science, math, and technology by providing support and $1,000 scholarships to eligible students. The Carson Scholars Fund provides an effective bridge for youth to journey from struggling neighborhoods to careers in education and medicine without having to depend on making it as a star in the NFL, NBA, other popular sports, hip hop or entertainment. Presently, The Carson Scholars Fund operates in 27 states and private and public schools located in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Indiana, Kansas, Washington, D.C., Northern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and Santa Ana, California. Thanks to an annual grant from The Abell Foundation, The Carson Scholars Fund can give a scholar award to one student in every Baltimore City public school. Over 3,400 students have received a Carson Scholarship to date.
Through Dr. Ben Carson the Creator has answered many a concerned parent’s prayer. In 1985 Dr. Carson operated on a 4-year old girl who had 120 seizures daily. After he removed one hemisphere of the girl’s brain, the girl went on to make a full recovery and lived seizure free.
Dr. Ben Carson successfully separated Siamese twins. He is most famous for separating the Binder twins from Germany. Another successfully operation performed by Dr. Ben Carson is the brain surgery performed on a 4-year old boy from Georgia. After seeking help from several other doctors, the boy’s parents met with Dr. Carson. To recover the boy, Dr. Ben Carson successfully operated on an inoperable brain stem tumor. Since the operation the boy became a healthy man and attended college.
Today Dr. Ben Carson performs operations on over 300 children a year. His medical experience and expertise is sought from patients and their families from around the world. He is works as a professor teaching the science of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery and pediatrics.
Dr. Ben Carson lives by his belief that, “We do not have to be victims of circumstance.” In addition to his medical practice, he is an author who has written the books Gifted Hands, Think Big and The Big Picture. More can be found out about this talented neurosurgeon at the Dr. Ben Carson official website.
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