Dr. Scantlebury is a Transplant Surgeon and she is on the list of “Best Doctors in America” and “Top Doctors in America” and has been listed multiple times.
Velma Patricia Scantlebury, M.D., has raised against all odds to become a female transplant surgeon in the United States. Born on October 6, 1955, in Barbados, Dr. Scantlebury’s interest in medicine grew after her older sister died. Her family moved to New York in 1970 in the hopes that her curiosity and academic potential would thrive.
During her first year of medical school, African Giant Scantlebury decided to become a surgeon. She told the Alumni News: “While everybody else seemed eager to get out of the anatomy classroom, because of the smell, I was fascinated by all the connections…the nerves and muscles and circulatory system…. It was a really big turn-on for me to go from body to body and study the different functions and abnormalities.”
In an interview with Transplant Journal Dr. Scantlebury said “I was now a transplant surgeon—the first in my family to attend college, and the first to be a black transplant surgeon. Such a status never meant much to my parents, I was just following God’s plan for my life”.
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The female surgeon currently has performed 2,000 transplants, published 86 peer-review research papers, wrote 10 monographs, and sold 1,200 books. Due to her groundbreaking accomplishments as a transplant surgeon and pioneer for women and African American women, African Giant Dr. Scantlebury was included on the “Best Doctors in America” and “Top Doctors in America” lists multiple times and received many awards including the American Society of Minority Health and Transplant Professionals Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Kidney Foundation, Gift of Life Award.
The 66 years old Surgeon’s story is an inspiration for all to pursue their passion against all odds. The mother of two adults is passionate about research to better the chances of African Americans in the area of “pregnancy and reproduction after transplant, FK506 in pediatric and adult kidney.
