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WME Books’ Author Wins Diversity Award
Author of the Inspirational Story: God Spare
Life, Honored with Diversity Award ROCHESTER, N.Y. (April 14, 2008)
Dr. Claudia Thomas, the first African American female
orthopaedic surgeon in the U.S., was honored this month by her
peers at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. In an
award ceremony held in San Francisco at the 75th Annual AAOS
Meeting, Dr. Thomas received the 2008 Diversity Award for her
“preeminent role … in the black community and also in the field
of orthopaedics.”
“Dr. Thomas, the first black female orthopaedic surgeon in her
field, has worked throughout her residency and practice to
recruit and retain individuals who are underrepresented in the
field of orthopaedic surgery,” so says the press release from
the AAOS. They also note that in addition to maintaining her
medical practice in her home state of Florida, Dr. Thomas, along
with other physicians in the area, reach out to their local
middle schools to build relationships with the students,
demonstrating the opportunities available through education and
perseverance.
WME Books is very proud to count Dr. Thomas as one of our
authors. Her story, told in the pages of
God Spare Life, resonates on page after page with a
focus on family, faith and education. “My parents prepared me to
be where I am,” she says. Her mother and father, though not as
educated as she would become, were both smart and loving. They
gave her the twin values of learning to excel in school and to
acknowledge her faith as a vital part of her life.
God Spare Life is a moving story if that life, flowing
from her a childhood and young adult life in Queens, NY, all the
way through the rough and, sometimes, exhilarating experiences
that challenged her very core as an adult intent upon becoming
an orthopaedic surgeon. Through it all, Dr. Thomas reveals how
much her faith sustained her when her medical training could
not.
She describes her life as three storms: first riding out the
squalls of coming of age as one of the first black students at
Vassar College in the 1960s; second, trapped in the jaws of a
demonic hurricane – where she prayed over and over, “God Spare
Life;” and the third as a patient stricken with kidney cancer,
cared for by a devoted mother and saved by a loving sister’s
donation of a kidney. To move beyond all that and be honored
with the respect of being the 2008 recipient of the AAOS
Diversity Award, is testament to Dr. Thomas’s strength of
character and her devotion to faith.
We celebrate Women’s History Month because of women like Dr.
Thomas. Her story proves that strong women of faith can, indeed,
move mountains. It’s a story meant for all women and girls. Dr.
Claudia Thomas continues to inspire everyone she meets, from all
walks of life. She encourages all people, men and women, girls
and boys, black and white, to strive for achievement, through
faith and education. We invite you to visit Dr. Thomas’s website
and blog at
claudiathomas.typepad.com for more information on her
incredible story. |
