Ben Carson
Ben Carson, in full Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr., (born September 18,
1951, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.), American politician and neurosurgeon
who performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins who
were attached at the back of the head (occipital craniopagus twins).
The operation, which took place in 1987, lasted some 22 hours and
involved a 70-member surgical team. Carson also refined a technique
known as hemispherectomy, in which one-half of the brain is removed
to prevent seizures in persons with severe epilepsy. He later became
active in politics and served as U.S. secretary of housing and urban
development (HUD; 2017–21) in the administration of U.S. Pres. Donald
Trump.
Early life and medical career
Carson spent his early childhood in Detroit. His parents divorced when
he was eight years old, and thereafter he lived with his mother and
brother, spending a brief period in Boston and later returning to
Detroit. Although Carson showed potential as a student, he performed
poorly in school until his mother challenged him and his brother with
reading and writing assignments in addition to their regular
schoolwork. Carson developed a newfound interest in learning and
eventually earned a scholarship to Yale University, receiving a
bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1973. While at Yale, he met Lacena
(“Candy”) Rustin; the couple married in 1975 and had three children.
He next attended the University of Michigan, earning a medical degree
in 1977, and later Johns Hopkins University Medical School in
Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed a residency in neurosurgery.
In 1984, after a brief stint as a senior registrar in neurosurgery at the Sir
Charles Gairdner Hospital, part of the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Center
in Ned lands, Western Australia, Carson became director of pediatric
neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He was one of the youngest doctors in
the United States to earn such a title. He later also held professorships
in plastic surgery, oncology, and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins.
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In his successful separation of occipital craniopagus twins in 1987,
Carson used a radical approach in which the twins’ body temperatures
were lowered to the point of circulatory arrest. The success of the
procedure and the reconstructive techniques employed gained Carson
world renown as a pediatric neurosurgeon. In 1997, in a 28-hour-long
operation, he led a team of South African and Zambian surgeons in a
separation of twins conjoined at the top of the head (type 2 vertical
craniopagus twins). Carson was also known for having performed the
first successful rescue of a hydrocephalic twin using an intrauterine
shunt. The shunt served to drain fluid under high pressure away from
the developing brain of the fetus and into the amniotic cavity of the
mother. Carson’s techniques for hemispherectomy and craniofacial
reconstructive surgery were influential in the fields of neurosurgery and
plastic surgery.
Carson Scholars
Move to politics
In 2012 Carson published America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What
Made This Nation Great (co-written with his wife), a work reflecting his
growing interest in politics. The following year he appeared at the
National Prayer Breakfast, a traditionally nonpartisan event organized
by the Family, a Christian movement. In his keynote speech, Carson was
highly critical of U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, who was in attendance, and
the resulting media attention helped make Carson a rising star in
conservative circles. In mid-2013 he retired as a surgeon, and the
following year he joined the Fox News Channel as a commentator. In
that role, he expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage and
abortion and claimed that homosexuality is a choice. He also was highly
critical of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In 2014 he
wrote (with his wife) One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save
America’s Future, and the following year he entered the 2016 U.S.
presidential election race. In the 2015 volume A More Perfect Union:
What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties
(also written with his wife), he issued his interpretations of the
mandate established by the U.S. Constitution.
Presidential run and HUD
With his conservative agenda, Carson initially proved popular with
Republican voters, and by October 2015 he was among the party’s
front-runners. However, soon thereafter his campaign began to
struggle when questions mounted concerning his grasp of foreign
policy. In addition, his debate performances were criticized for a
perceived lack of energy. After failing to win any states a month into
the primary election season, Carson formally suspended his campaign
in early March 2016. He was a vocal supporter of eventual winner
Donald Trump, who in December 2016 announced that he would
nominate Carson to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development. In March 2017 Carson was confirmed by the
Senate, 58–41, and took office shortly thereafter.
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