Happy Black History Month! This month, the HBHL Trainee Committee would like to honour and highlight the various historic Black scientists and clinicians that have contributed to the field of neuroscience, starting with 平特五不中 Alum and the first board-certified Black neurosurgeon in America, Dr. Clarence Sumner Greene, Sr.
After a successful year of working in dentistry, Dr. Greene decided to pursue a career in medicine by starting as a premedical student at Harvard College from 1927-1929. He would then earn a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in 1932 before graduating with distinction at Howard University College of Medicine in 1936. Dr. Greene went on to complete his residency in general surgery at Freedmen鈥檚 Hospital in 1942. However, despite these achievements, he was denied the opportunity to train as a neurosurgeon because he was African American. Nonetheless, this did not stop him from pursuing an academic career by working as an Anatomy instructor at Howard University. By 1947, Dr. Greene鈥檚 commitment had not gone unnoticed and he was offered a position to complete neurosurgery training at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) here at 平特五不中.
Dr. Greene would complete his neurosurgical residency at 平特五不中 in 1949 where he gained some of the most first-class neurosurgical techniques at the time. His knowledge would lead to him being appointed as the Chief of Neurosurgery at Howard University. There, he would increase the standard of neurosurgical care at the affiliated Freedmen鈥檚 Hospital, a hospital that was vital for African American care at the time. Some of the groundbreaking techniques he introduced at the hospital included craniotomies for incision and clipping of intracranial aneurysms, as well as general surgical procedures for spinal disc herniations and stroke interventions. Dr. Greene also contributed massively towards diagnostic neuroimaging at the time by introducing cerebral angiograms at his hospital.听He became the first board-certified Black neurosurgeon in America in 1953.
Despite the racial barriers that he faced,听Dr. Greene鈥檚 contributions to the field of neurosurgery continue to be an inspiration for aspiring physicians and neuroscientists of all backgrounds.
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Reference:
Hanoon, R., Ramirez, C., Lout, E., Barrie, U., & Aoun, S. G. (2023). Clarence Sumner Greene, Sr. (1901-1957): The First Board-Certified Black Neurosurgeon in the United States.听World neurosurgery,听178, 9鈥�13.
