Transcending Surgeon (2014)

Committed to more than saving lives. Transcending Surgeon is a documentary film about renowned Washington DC based trauma surgeon Dr. Edward Cornwell III and the challenges and impact of his career. African American pioneers in medicine overcame great barriers to make significant contributions to the field. Following in their footsteps, Dr. Edward Cornwell III, Surgeon-in-Chief of Howard University Hospital in Washington DC, faces unique challenges to have a lasting, positive impact on his students, patients and community. This documentary explores Dr. Cornwell's family upbringing, mentors, education and other guiding forces which led to his successful career. It does so in the context of African American pioneers in medicine, and that many of his patients represent the realities of another side of urban African American life - communities beset by poverty, inadequate education and violence.