<bgsound src="moonriver.mid" loop=infinite> Disclaimer: This is not an Official Ben Carson Site! If you wish to get in touch with Dr. Ben Carson you should try: CARSON SCHOLARS CONTACTJOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE BEN CARSON Dr. Benjamin Carson,one of the world's most gifted surgeons was born in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating with honors from high school, he attended Yale University where he earned a degree in Psychology. From Yale he went to the Medical School of the University of Michgan, where his interest shifted from psychology to neurosurgery. After medical school he became a neurosurgery resident at the world famous Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At the age of 32, he became the hospital's Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery. In 1987, Carson made medical history with an operation to separate a pair of Siamese twins. The Binder twins were born joined at the back of the head. Operations to separate twins joined in this way had always failed, resulting in the death of one or both of the infants. Carson agreed to undertake the operation. A 70-member surgical team, led by Dr. Carson, worked for 22 hours. At the end, the twins were successfully separated and can now survive independently. In addition to his surgical duties, Carson finds time at least twice a month to address groups of junior high school and high school students who visit the hospital. Carson has written two books Gifted Hands and Think Big. SONYA CARSON, HEROINE OF BEN CARSON'S STORY Dr. Ben Carson, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital, is an example for African-American youth. Yet, if Ben is a hero, his mother, Sonya Carson, is the heroine of his story. Sonya was one of 24 children, and married at the age of 13, when she moved with her husband from Chattanooga, Tenn. to Detroit, where he found a job in the Cadillac plant, and worked there until he retired in 1970. The couple had two children, Curtis and Ben, who loved their father and were despondent when their parents separated. He had a mistress and children by her. Sonya filed for divorce when Curtis was ten and Ben, eight. With a third grade education, the mother worked long hours doing domestic work, mainly for wealthy people, and she passed on her observations to her boys, as recorded in Ben's autobiography, "Gifted Hands." Dr. BEN CARSON, DOCTOR AND LEADER by RUTH BERTELS Dr. Carson's Early Life "Dr. Carson grew up poor in inner-city Detroit and Boston. After his parents divorced when he was eight, he and his brother were raised by his mother, who was one of 24 children and got married at the age of 13. Dr. Carson was such a poor student in elementary school that his fifth-grade classmates nicknamed him "Dummy," and he even got into a fight over whether he was just the "dumbest kid in the class" or the "dumbest person in the world." At that point in his life he was totally unmotivated with failing grades, low self-esteem, and a terrible temper by measures, a child in danger of being left behind. Fortunately, Dr. Carson had two things working in his favor. One was his strong faith in God that continues to sustain him. The other was a mother who was involved in his life and believed in him--a mother who prayed for the wisdom to go beyond her own third-grade education in order to instill in her sons an enthusiasm for learning. Her prayers led her to a plan that worked: Mrs. Carson began sending the boys to the public library every day instead of letting them watch television and making them each turn in two book reports to her every week. Dr. Carson recalls that at first he and his brother thought this was certified child abuse. But as he began to read, his entire world opened up. Dr. Carson started realizing that through books he could go anywhere and do anything. He became interested in learning and in aspiring to something more than the factory job and nice car that most of his classmates wanted. By the seventh grade he was at the top of his class, and his love of reading and learning and commitment to excellence and doing his best were fully ingrained. As he says now, "When I was in the fifth grade I thought I was stupid, so I conducted myself like a stupid person and achieved like a stupid person. When I was is the seventh grade I thought I was smart; I conducted myself like a smart person and achieved like a smart person. What does that say about human potential?" It was not until years later that Dr. Carson realized his mother had not even been able to read the book reports that had turned his life around. Eventually he received a scholarship to Yale University and went on to medical school at the University of Michigan. By age 33 he had earned his current position as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins." BEATING THE ODDS: Dr. BEN CARSON by Marian Wright Edelman-1/05/01 New Journal & Guide Dr. BEN CARSON- GROWING UP Dr. CARSON'S COLLEGE DAYS "From mediocre grades to brain surgery At the School of Medicine, Ben faced two dilemmas. He initially studied to become a psychiatrist. But as he got deeper into his major, he realized that the profession was not what he thought it was. "My concepts had been derived largely from television," he says. Looking at his options, he didn't want to backtrack, wasting his years spent studying the brain. So Ben prayed and considered his situation. He knew he had excellent hand-eye coordination; he was a champion foosball (table soccer) player at Yale. In addition, he had a superior ability to manipulate spatial relationships in his mind (thinking in 3-D images), critical when working on the brain, which he likens in consistency to "a hard-boiled egg with oatmeal mixed inside." And he considered himself to be a careful person, another vital asset if you're in a position to work on a person's most important body part. "Now, what would be something that would take advantage of those things? Brain surgery! That's a no-brainer," he says. If his new goal was brain surgery, Ben knew his grades wouldn't cut it. He had to get them up. A counselor suggested medical school was too much for him. But with a history of overcoming obstacles, Ben didn't let the advice get him down." BEYOND BRAIN POWER by RANDY BISHOP READ MORE... Visit the Academy of Achievement for exclusive interviews and photos of Benjamin Carson. The Carson Scholars Fund: Investing in Children's Minds BL ACK HISTORY MONTH-A Medical PerspectiveDuke University Medical Center Library BENJAMIN S. CARSON, Sr., M.D.Johns Hopkins Medicine BEN CARSON,MD EACH OF US CAN GIVE A CHILD A HEADSTART by ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page
Dr. Benjamin Carson,one of the world's most gifted surgeons was born in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating with honors from high school, he attended Yale University where he earned a degree in Psychology. From Yale he went to the Medical School of the University of Michgan, where his interest shifted from psychology to neurosurgery. After medical school he became a neurosurgery resident at the world famous Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At the age of 32, he became the hospital's Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery.
In 1987, Carson made medical history with an operation to separate a pair of Siamese twins. The Binder twins were born joined at the back of the head. Operations to separate twins joined in this way had always failed, resulting in the death of one or both of the infants. Carson agreed to undertake the operation. A 70-member surgical team, led by Dr. Carson, worked for 22 hours. At the end, the twins were successfully separated and can now survive independently.
In addition to his surgical duties, Carson finds time at least twice a month to address groups of junior high school and high school students who visit the hospital. Carson has written two books Gifted Hands and Think Big.