This Stanford neurosurgeon’s promotion just made history—here’s why it’s a big deal for STEM

“When Stanford neurosurgeon Odette Harris was preparing to head into the operating room to treat a patient one morning, someone confused her for the cleaning staff and told her, “I need you to go clean room six.”

“Okay,” Harris said, fully dressed in a surgical mask, hat and scrubs, “when I’m done with this case.” She joined her two residents around the operating table, where her brain injury patient lay under anesthesia, ready for surgery.

Harris recently made history for becoming America’s first black female tenured neurosurgery professor. Her promotion from associate professor to full professor, first reported by the Stanford Daily, is a win as companies and institutions nationwide fail to promote and retain women, especially women of color, in the workforce.”