Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare - 2016

Carson has made a splash in the contentious race for the presidency as the only African-American candidate, touting his life's story and decades of experience as a neurosurgeon. Before entering politics, Carson, 64, was director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore for 29 years until he retired in 2013. During his surgical career, Carson performed the first successful separation of craniopagus twins and advanced the hemispherectomy procedure to control epilepsy in children. He was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008. Carson has written several books including an autobiography, Gifted Hands, in 1996. Born in Detroit, Carson graduated from Yale University and later attended medical school at the University of Michigan.