Alexa Canady, MD (1950 - )
Alexa Canady was born November 7, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan, but her and her brother were raised right outside of the city by their parents, Elizabeth and Clinton Canady, Jr. Her mother was an educator and periodically the president of Delta Sigma Theta, and her father was a dentist, so Canady was no stranger to hard work growing up.
As a child, she can remember her and her younger sibling being the only Black children in their elementary school. Canady says her mother would give them the ‘tokens are for spending’ talk. “So what if you're the token black girl,” her mother said. “Take that token and spend it." The issue was that, that token’s worth was decided by white supremacists, not Canady or her mother. In elementary school, Alexa Canady’s parents found out that one of her educators had been switching her intelligence test scores with those of a White student in order to cover up young Alexa’s intelligence.
Luckily for her, Canady’s parents instilled into her mind a belief in hard work before these events rose to her knowledge. She remained a stellar student in the classroom, and eventually earned the title of National Achievement Scholar in 1967, as a senior in high school. When Ms. Canady decided to attend the University of Michigan, she decided to major in mathematics upon arrival, but switched into zoology by her junior year. Canady said her choice of switching stemmed from a “confidence crisis”, during which she almost discontinued her undergraduate studies. With the help of a health careers summer program targeting minority students, Canady fostered a love for medicine and decided to pursue a medical degree.
After being accepted into the University of Michigan’s Medical School in 1971, Canady gained tremendous interest in the brain and all of its functions. From neurology to neurosurgery, she soon realized she had developed an affinity for one of, if not the most male-dominated fields of medicine in her time (keep in mind that Title IX, which barred sex discrimination in educational entities receiving federal funding, was passed just one year after her medical school journey began.) Despite the inevitable intersectional struggle ahead, Canady was determined to earn her way into a neurosurgical program post-doctorate. She began attending every neurology seminar on campus and reading every neurology article published, essentially becoming a walking neurology encyclopedia. This heavy immersion within her studies led Canady to attain her M.D. cum laude from U of M in 1975, and (despite months of unsuccessful interviews, even with her outstanding track record) to earn acceptance into a surgical internship at Yale that same year. This two year journey ahead of Dr. Canady marked the beginning of a historically significant career in neurosurgery, as she was now the first Black woman to ever complete a neurosurgical internship at Yale.
Upon completion of her internship, Dr. Canady took her talents to the University of Minnesota to complete a neurosurgical residency. During her five years there, she developed a newfound passion in the pediatric ward. “Unlike adults, kids don’t know the role of the neurosurgeon,” Canady once noted. “They treat you like any other person.” After completing her residency at the University of Minnesota in 1981, Dr. Canady became the first Black female neurosurgeon in the United States.
Upon completing her fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 1982, Dr. Canady joined the Neurosurgery Department at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital for a few years. It was during Canady’s time here that she became the first African-American woman to be certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. Two years later in 1986, Dr. Canady became Chief of Neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. After leading research and teaching courses at Wayne State University, obtaining a patent for original neurosurgical equipment, and saving lives one surgery at a time for 30 years, Dr. Alexa Canady retired from medicine in 2012.
Canady was inducted into Michigan’s Women Hall of Fame in 1989. She was awarded two honorary degrees: a doctorate of humane letters from the University of Detroit-Mercy in 1997, and a doctor of science degree from the University of Southern Connecticut in 1999. In 1993, she received the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award, and the Distinguished Service Award from Wayne State University Medical School the following year. She was even one of the 13 individuals named ‘Michiganian of the Year’ in 2001. Dr. Canady’s determination to defy stereotypes, accompanied by extensive neurological knowledge and compassion for her patients, makes her one of the greatest neurosurgeons the world has ever seen, regardless of sex, race, or any other social factor. Thank you, Dr. Alexa Canady.
You can find my resources on Dr. Canady here, here, here, here, and here.
