Who
would have thought that a little black girl from Mississippi would ever become
a brain surgeon? Annie Belle Huff, Dr. Deborah Hyde's grandmother did. She always
believed that her granddaughter was someone special. Dr. Hyde believes that
this spirit continues to encourage, inspire and comfort her, as she goes about
helping sick people to improve the quality of their lives.
As a child, Dr. Hyde had
a zest for learning. While her friends asked for toys at Christmas, she requested
a set of encyclopedia.
After graduation from high
school in Laurel, Mississippi, she majored in biology at Tougaloo College in
Mississippi and earned a master's degree in biology at Cleveland State University
in Ohio.
Dr. Hyde began her medical
education at Case Western Reserve Medical School in Cleveland, Ohio and interned
for one year at the University Hospital. From 1 978 to 1982, she was a resident
in neurosurgery at the same hospital and learned to perform surgery on the nerves
in the spine, brain and body. This kind of surgery required a steady hand and
thorough knowledge of the human body. For the next four years, she perfected
her surgical skills in the Guthrie Clinic at the Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre,
Pennsylvania.
In 1985, Dr. Hyde became
one of 4,200 physicians certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
Of this number, about 60 are African-Americans and only four of them are women.
One year later, she entered private practice in Los Angeles, California.
Many articles have been written
about Dr. Hyde's surgical skill and significant contributions to her community.
However, founding the Beacon of Hope Scholarship Foundation Inc., in 1991, was
a major accomplishment of which she is very proud. This foundation raises money
without corporate support to send one student from South Central, Los Angeles
and one from Jones County, Mississippi to a historically black college for four
years. The foundation also awards 5500 to a ninth grader who excels in science.
"By assisting students in this way," she said, "I am putting into action my
belief that with God's help one may climb and reach for the stars, pushing obstacles
aside and seizing the hour."
