E108 Black Surgeons in Canada with Don Nakayama, Cathy Slaney, Shannon Prince & Vivian McAlister

Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

Happy new year to all our listeners! We hope you all have a fulfilling and healthy 2022!

We are very excited this week to bring you this episode on Black Surgeons in North America. This initiative lead by Dr. Don Nakayama is an amazing collection of the contributions of black surgeons across North America. We were lucky to sit down with Dr. Vivian McAllister, a longtime friend of the podcast and one of the authors of the chapter on black surgeons in Canada, to tell us about the contributions of black Canadian surgeons. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Dr. Nakayama, as well as Dr. Cathy Slaney, a sociologist who’s work has focused on her great-grandfather Dr. Anderson Abbott, one of the surgeons profiled in the book. Last but not least, we were joined by Shannon Prince, the curator of the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum. This episode was a fascinating foray into the untold stories of the contributions of black surgeons in our country.

We were also really inspired by our guests thoughts about how we can perhaps learn from this history to help us heal the ongoing racial wounds that exist within our culture and society. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts by email at [e-mail] or on twitter @CanJSurg.

Links:

1. Black Surgeons and Surgery in America - available from the ACS website. https://www.facs.org/publications/black-surgeons-and-surgery-in-america

2. Family Secrets by Cathy Slaney. https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781896219820-family-secrets

3. Buxton National Historic Site and Museum: http://www.buxtonmuseum.com/

Bios:

Shannon Prince: http://www.buxtonmuseum.com/about/ShannonPrince_bio.pdf

Catherine Slaney: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/02/23/woman_finds_out_famous_relative_was_black.html?rf

Vivian McAlister: https://www.cma.ca/dr-vivian-mcalister

Don Nakayama: https://www.med.unc.edu/surgery/dr-don-nakayama-joins-pediatric-surgery/