Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah: The first Black woman to graduate from the Johns Hopkins neurosurgery program

All over the world, black women continue to make their mark, with Ghanaian women being no exception, doing marvelous work across the globe deserving of praise and recognition.

One such woman leading the way in one of the best medical and training facilities in the world is Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah, who has become the first Black woman to graduate and complete the seven-year neurosurgery program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the USA.

Neurosurgery is the medical specialty which focuses on the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.

In the 30 years that the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s neurosurgical department has accepted residents, there has never been a black woman among the ranks of the prestigious medical school. Now, that has changed with Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah making history by achieving this extraordinary accomplishment.

According to her X page, Nancy Abu-Bonsrah has spent to total of 12 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

"12 years @HopkinsMedicine came to an end last weekend, surrounded by family. Surreal that I’m done @HopkinsNsurg! #olderandwiser #latenightreflections," she wrote on June 21, 2024.

During her 12-year journey at Johns Hopkins, starting with medical school, Abu-Bonsrah pursued her clinical interests in neurosurgery, neurotrauma and neurosurgical capacity building in her birth country of Ghana and other countries.

In addition to her Doctor of Medicine, awarded in 2017, she also earned a Master of Public from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2022, which was supported by the Global Health Scholarship and MPH Scholarship Awards. She has also co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications.

Reflecting on her seven-year journey in the neurosurgery program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she expressed gratitude to the faculty of the Mount St, Mary’s University School of Natural Science and Mathematics (SNSM) and her mentors.

“I’m especially grateful for the mentorship from Dr. Christine McCauslin during my time at the Mount. Her support for me, personally and professionally, knew no bounds.,” she told news.msmary.edu in an interview.

“I’m also grateful to several of the science faculty, including Dr. Kreke, Dr. Staiger, Dr. Miles and Dr. Ward, among others. The science department holds a special place in my heart. I am lucky to have had their encouragement through the years!” Dr. Abu-Bonsrah added.

As a neurosurgery resident, Dr. Abu-Bonsrah won the Neurosurgeon Research and Education Foundation (NREF) Directed Residency Scholarship and the Hopkins Neurosurgery Department Irving J. Sherman Traveling Fellowship Award in 2021.

She was a finalist in 2022 for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Practice Awards – Excellence in International Public Health Practice. She also received the Association for Academic Surgery/Association for Academic Surgery Foundation (AAS/AASF) Global Surgery Research Award in 2022 and the Hopkins Neurosurgery Department Louise Eisenhardt Award in 2023.

Nancy Abu-Bonsrah lived in Ghana until she was 15 and then moved to the United States.

Back in 2017, she was interviewed by CNN when she first entered into the neurosurgery program as the first black female resident of the school.

“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. Everything about the match is special. It will be a dream come true,” she earlier said.

The neurosurgery program at Johns Hopkins Medical School accepts just two to five residents and is ranked as the second-best medical school in the USA. One of the notable alumni of the school is Dr. Ben Carson, a respected neurosurgeon, academic, and author.

Dr. Ben Carson is known for writing some of the best-selling books. He later entered American politics and served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021 under the Trump administration.

Congratulations to my dear friend, and the first Black woman to graduate from the neurosurgery program at John's Hopkins, Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah (@BonsrahNancy)! #medtwitter pic.twitter.com/gdu6x7pF9i

— Anna (@itsafronomics) June 28, 2024

12 years @HopkinsMedicine came to an end last weekend, surrounded by family. Surreal that I’m done @HopkinsNsurg! #olderandwiser #latenightreflections pic.twitter.com/SBV2Y0Cmq0

— Nancy Abu-Bonsrah, MD, MPH (@BonsrahNancy) June 21, 2024

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