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Johns Hopkins Accepts First Black Woman As Neurosurgery Resident

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Friday, March 17 was Match Day for thousands of medical students across the country, where students "match" with universities for their residency and medical school programs.

RELATED: On Match Day, Maryland Med Students Find Out Where They'll Do Residency

A young med student from Maryland named Nancy Abu-Bonsrah has made history as the first Black woman to become a neurosurgery resident at Baltimore's prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Abu-Bonsrah is originally from Ghana, but tells Johns Hopkins that she came to the United States at the age of 15.

She says she attended high school in Columbia before studying biochemistry at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and went on to finish her medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

She made a celebratory post on Facebook upon receiving the news.

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

Abu-Bonsrah says she is the first person in her family to become a physician.

The Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery residency program has many celebrated alumnae, most notably, Secretary of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Dr. Ben Carson.

Johns Hopkins only accepts a handful of students into its neuro residency program every year.

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