The first black female neurosurgery resident at Johns Hopkins has said her interest in neurosurgery started in Ghana.

Dr Nancy Abu-Bonsrah who moved to the United States from Ghana with her parents when she was 15 told the BBC she was inspired by what she witnessed when she was paired with a surgeon during her days in Ghana.

“My family used to go to Ghana every year. During my junior year, I went on a break. I wanted to have some clinical experiences because I always knew I was going to pursue medicine while I was in Ghana before moving to the States. I went to one of the teaching hospitals and I was so fortunate to be paired up with a surgeon… seeing the case they did, it was really impressive to me,” she said.

In the 30 years that Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's neurosurgical department has accepted residents, there has never been a black woman in the ranks.

Now, Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is making history.

The prestigious program accepts just two to five residents, and is ranked second in the country. Among its most notable alumni: Dr. Ben Carson, who is now the United States secretary of Housing and Urban Development.



"I am very much interested in providing medical care in underserved settings, specifically surgical care," Abu-Bonsrah said in a statement. "I hope to be able to go back to Ghana over the course of my career to help in building sustainable surgical infrastructure."