Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah, born in Ghana, is the first African-American woman to graduate from the seven-year neurosurgery school at Johns Hopkins in the US.
She made waves in 2017 as the first African-American female resident in the program’s 30-year existence. Only two to five residents are admitted into the highly regarded program, which is ranked second in the nation. Dr. Ben Carson, a well-known neurosurgeon and author, is among its most prominent alumni.
Abu-Bonsrah commemorated her achievements on X on June 21, with the caption, “12 years @HopkinsMedicine came to an end last weekend, surrounded by family. Surreal that I’m done @HopkinsNsurg! #olderandwiser #latenightreflections.”
Abu-Bonsrah spent 12 years at Johns Hopkins focusing on neurosurgery, neurotrauma, and developing neurosurgical capacity in Ghana and other low and middle-income countries (news.msmary.edu).
According to the source, the pioneer received her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2022, which was funded by the Global Health Scholarship and MPH Scholarship Awards. In addition, he received a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2017. She has also co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed articles.
As she reminisced on her seven years in the Johns Hopkins neurosurgery program, she thanked her mentors and teachers at Mount St. Mary’s University’s School of Natural Science and Mathematics (SNSM).
She told news.msmary.edu in an interview, “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.”
“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!” she added.
During her residency in neurosurgery at Hopkins, the revolutionary woman was awarded the Neurosurgeon Research and Education Foundation (NREF) Directed Residency Scholarship and the Irving J. Sherman Traveling Fellowship Award in 2021.
In 2022, she was selected as a finalist for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Practice Awards for Excellence in International Public Health. She also received the Hopkins Neurosurgery Department Louise Eisenhardt Award in 2023 and the Association for Academic Surgery/Association for Academic Surgery Foundation (AAS/AASF) Global Surgery Research Award in 2022.
Abu-Bonsrah is now working at UPMC Williamsport Hospital after finishing her neurosurgery residency.
Abu-Bonsrah was born and reared in Ghana before relocating to the US at the age of 15.
She told CNN in a 2017 interview, “I hope to be able to go back to Ghana over the course of my career to help in building sustainable surgical infrastructure.”
“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. Unique thing: Everything is special about the match. It will be a dream come true,” she said.