Zarina Ali; Penn Hospital’s first Muslim Female Neurosurgeon

Dr. Zarina Ali is the first female Muslim neurosurgeon at Penn Hospital in Pennsylvania. Zarina takes great pride in her steady hand for brain or spine surgeries, keeping in mind that  she has a chance to make a huge difference in life and death situations of her patients.  Even the long tiring  hours where razor sharp focus is needed, Zarina loves to do that over anything else.  

Dr Zarina Ali,  a mother of three children, with another one on the way, she is uniquely qualified as the first female neurosurgeon at Pennsylvania Hospital in Center City to help and encourage female medical students to pursue the expertise she enjoys the most.

According to the American Board of Neurological Surgery statistics, in the United States there are only 219 board-certified female neurosurgeons, in which there are 25 full-time female academic neurosurgeons, and there is only one female chair of a neurosurgery department.So Zarina Ali  was one of the three female doctors in her neurosurgery residency at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania  who had no female mentors to guide them.

Zarina now works as an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the America’s second-oldest hospital, many young female medical students look up to to 33 years old Zarina for mentorship advice  when they have concerns about their career in neurosurgery. Be it about  the demanding work hours, or a long training commitment, or they have a worry about having time to start a family. Zarina Ali is a role model for many.