Surgeon heals with grace, devotion to young patients

Dr. Alexa I. Canady

Age: 51
Residence: Pensacola, Fla.
Occupation: Retired in June 2001 as chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan
Honored: For her work as the first female African-American neurosurgeon in the United States

elly Strange took a deep breath.
“If I cry, please forgive me,” she said. “When Dr. Canady retired, I felt like nobody could ever replace her. She really loves her patients, and that meant so much to me.”

    The 26-year-old was born with hydrocephalus, which causes fluid buildup and enlargement of the skull. Dr. Alexa I. Canady performed six surgeries on Strange.

    Canady, the first female African-American brain surgeon in the United States, was appointed chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in 1987. She retired last June and moved to Florida with her husband, George Davis, a retired medical corpsman for the U.S. Navy.

    Canady not only improved or saved young lives, she trained the four neurosurgeons now on staff at Children’s.

    She also mentored young people each year and spoke at area schools. She let children know they, too, could achieve their dreams. The message is something of a family legacy.

    Her grandmother taught elementary education at Lane College in Tennessee. Her mother was the first African American to be elected to the Lansing Board of Education. Her father is a dentist, and her three brothers all are lawyers.

    Kelly Strange’s mom has a finely tuned appreciation for Canady’s work.

    “Kelly’s regular surgeon was unavailable. But I was afraid for any other doctor to work on my child,” Lisa Strange said. “But she was very optimistic and cared about Kelly ... and she’s so good with basket-case mothers like myself.”

    Putting people at ease is part of Canady’s style. Dr. Steven D. Ham, interim chief of neurosurgery at Children’s, said Canady’s intelligence and integrity stand out. So has a willingness to play with her patients — most likely, he said, because she’s still a kid at heart herself.

    “I like to play, so my day always includes it,” Canady said. “I had a contest with one young boy, and it was so much fun. It helps them talk to me with ease. That’s why I chose pediatrics. It’s not so serious all day.”

    But as the chief of neurosurgery, Canady handled the most difficult cases — brain tumors, spinal surgeries and other delicate and life-saving procedures. She published in research journals, most notably on new shunt surgery techniques.

    After graduating cum laude from the University of Michigan Medical School, Canady’s training included a surgical internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a residency in neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis. A fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia followed.

    “Medicine,” Canady said, “is a service business. It’s no different than the corner drugstore. You provide a service as unobtrusively as possible. But you must be human. In order to provide good quality care, it is so important that patients are able to talk to you and not regard you as some deity above them.”

— Shawn D. Lewis