Vanguard

Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News

Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, a professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, will be the University of South Alabama's spring semester commencement speaker.
Carson will address the USA graduates and offer his inspiring story of hope, courage and determination. He is a highly regarded motivational speaker who has addressed various audiences from school systems and civic groups to corporations and the President's National Prayer Breakfast. USA will honor him with a doctor of humane rights degree.
Carson's career highlights include the first separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head in 1987, the first completely successful separation of type-2 vertical Siamese twins in 1997 in South Africa, and the first successful placement of an intrauterine shunt for a hydrocephalic twin. Carson is interested in all aspects of pediatric neurosurgery, but is especially interested in trigeminal neuralgia [severe facial pain] in adults.
As a child, Carson grew up in a single-parent home. Though challenged with poverty and poor grades in elementary school, he would not let that interfere with his dreams of becoming a physician.
Carson attended Yale University after high school where he received his baccalaureate degree in 1973, then proceeded to get his medical degree at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1977.
World-renowned as a surgeon, teacher, medical scientist and the author of numerous scientific books and book chapters, Carson also holds 46 honorary doctorate degrees, and is a member in numerous prestigious organizations such as Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Horatio Alger Society of Distinguished Americans.
In 2001, Carson was named by CNN and Time magazine as one of the nation's 20 foremost physicians and scientists and also selected by the Library of Congress as one of 89 "Living Legends" on the occasion of its 200th anniversary. He was appointed in 2004 to serve on the President's Council on Bioethics by President George W. Bush.
Carson is married to his wife of 30 years, Candy, and is the father of three sons.
May 3 marks the beginning for 1,208 graduates when they walk across the stage during commencement. USA will award 839 bachelor's degrees, 248 master's degrees, 13 educational specialists' degrees, 65 doctor of medicine degrees, 33 doctor of physical therapy, six doctors of audiology and four doctors of philosophy degrees.
Commencement will take place at USA's Mitchell Center at 2 p.m.

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