The first female African American neurosurgeon in the United States.
Dr. Alexa Irene Canady, 67, has said she almost dropped out of college when she started her undergraduate degree. But she pressed on and discovered her love of medicine working on genetics research. Canady, a native of Lansing, Michigan, pursued her studies in pediatrics.
In 1981, she became the first female African American neurosurgeon in the United States. Her research in children includes studies on the effects of hydrocephalus, a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain.