Five Black Surgical Residents Make History as First All Black Team to Lead Johns Hopkins Trauma Center
For the first time in its storied history, Johns Hopkins Hospital has placed an all Black team of surgical residents at the helm of its flagship Halsted service in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
The historic milestone marks a defining moment for one of the nation’s most prestigious medical institutions and signals steady, though long overdue, progress in diversifying the surgical workforce.
Five Black Surgical Residents Lead Flagship Halsted Service
Doctors Valentine S. Alia, M.D., a second year resident; Lawrence B. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., a seventh year resident; Ivy Mannoh, M.D., a third year resident; Zachary Obinna Enumah, M.D., Ph.D., M.A., a ninth year resident and critical care fellow; and Ifeoluwa “Ife” Shoyombo, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., a third year resident, are now leading the hospital’s trauma center service.
An Instagram post from the program described the moment as historic.
“For the first time in program history, our flagship Halsted service is led by an all Black team of senior residents and PGY 2s,” the caption read. “Black individuals comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population but only 6 percent of general surgeons nationwide. This Black History Month, we recognize this milestone while continuing the work to build a more representative surgical workforce.”
The numbers underscore the significance of the achievement. While representation in medicine has improved over the decades, general surgery remains one of the least diverse specialties.
A Milestone Rooted in Service and Equity
For Dr. Brown, the moment carries deep personal weight.
“My parents are so proud. I am the first physician in my family, and I think it’s so impactful,” Brown told ABC News. “It’s service. That’s what’s important to me. Equity has to remain at the forefront of how we deliver patient care, how we do research, how we scale programs up in our healthcare system.”
Dr. Enumah, who grew up in Columbus, Georgia, in the 1990s, described watching both of his parents serve their communities in medicine.
“My mom, a family medicine doc, my dad, a general surgeon, showed up to serve patients every day,” he said.
Now, Enumah and his colleagues are building on that foundation, stepping into leadership roles at an institution that once excluded people who looked like them.
Their achievement carries even greater meaning when viewed against the legacy of Vivien Thomas, the pioneering cardiac surgery innovator who became the first Black person to wear a white coat in the halls of Johns Hopkins in 1941.
At a time when Black physicians were barred from admission as faculty or students, Thomas developed groundbreaking surgical techniques that transformed cardiac medicine, despite not holding a formal medical degree. Although racial barriers denied him credentials during much of his career, Johns Hopkins awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1976.
Today, his portrait hangs within the hospital corridors, and initiatives like the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative honor his legacy.
In a widely shared photo of the five residents, Thomas’ portrait is visible in the background, a silent but powerful reminder of the journey from exclusion to leadership.
Inspiring the Next Generation
For Dr. Shoyombo, the work is as much about the future as it is about the present.
“The best part is that I get to save lives and have an impact every single day,” he said. “To anyone who’s watching, realize that your dream and capacity can only be limited by you. And if you can think it, see it, then you can absolutely reach it.”
At an institution where history runs deep, five Black surgical residents are not only leading a trauma service. They are reshaping what leadership in medicine looks like and proving that representation in white coats is more than symbolic. It is transformational.
