Dr. Velma Scantlebury is working to increase the number of minorities who are organ donors and to bring more minorities into the field of organ transplant surgery.

Scantlebury, the first Black woman to become a transplant surgeon in this country, was headed in to surgery with a patient whom she had never met. Because of the emergency nature of transplant surgery, a patient’s regular doctor may not be the one performing the transplant. The patient first noted that Scantlebury was a woman. Next, he noted that she was Black.

“Please, please, please don’t kill me!” The frightened patient said, “I have a young daughter,” Scantlebury recounted to a group of young women during a summer program.

As the first Black female transplant surgeon, Scantlebury is used to odd questions. Still, she has also been incredibly successful in her career, performing more than 200 live donor kidney transplants. Now, Scantlebury is out to bring more minorities to the field, but also looks to increase the number of minorities who are organ donors.

Minorities make up 54 percent of those on the organ transplant list but [are] only 33 percent of those who receive transplant surgery.