June 19, 2008 - President George W. Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, to Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr. Carson was born September 18, 1951 in Detroit, Michigan. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Yale University in 1973 and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1977. At the age of 33, he became director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins... Hospital, the youngest major division director at the hospital. In 1987, Carson became the first surgeon in the world to successfully separate Siamese twins conjoined at the back of the head. Other surgical innovations by Carson include the first intrauterine procedure to relieve pressure on the brain of a hydrocephalic fetal twin and a hemispherectomy to remove half of the brain of a young girl suffering from uncontrollable seizures. Carson continues to operate on more than 300 children a year. In 1994, he co-founded the Carson Scholarship Fund to recognize young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. Carson was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal in 2006. He published his autobiography, “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story,” in 1990. Other books by Carson are “Think Big” (1996), “The Big Picture” (2000), “Take The Risk” (2008), and “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great” (2011),. He has received more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees and serves on the board of directors of Kellogg Company and Costco Wholesale Corporation.