Alexa Canady

"The summer after my junior year, I worked in Dr. Bloom's lab in genetics and attended a genetic counseling clinic. I fell in love with medicine."

"Convincing the neurosurgery chairman that I was not a risk to drop out or be fired, a disaster in a program where there are only one or two residents per year. I was the first African American woman [in the department]. Along with that, my other greatest obstacle was convincing myself that someone would give me a chance to work as a neurosurgeon."

"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."

"I was worried that because I was a black woman, any practice opportunities would be limited. By being patient-centered, the practice growth was exponential."