Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks to reporters after stopping at The Airport Diner on February 7, 2016 in Manchester, New Hampshire.  (Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images)

Ben Carson biography

By
  • Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Ben Carson was born to a single mom in Detroit. Carson himself said that he had "bad grades and a horrible temper," but with the world of reading his mother introduced to him, his grades improved so much that he "excelled in high school."

According to his official biography, Carson:

  • Attended Yale University where he met his wife Candy.
  • Worked as an X-ray technician, bank teller, school bus driver, steel factory crane operator and a supervisor for highway cleanup crews.
  • Accepted to The University of Michigan School of Medicine.
  • Performed residence at Johns Hopkins Univeristy Medical Center.
  • 1987- Performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins, attached at the back of the head (craniopagus).
  • 1994 - Founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which, in addition to granting scholarships, also sets up Carson Reading rooms.
  • 1998 - Performed successful separation of type-2 vertical craiophagus twins in South Africa.
  • 2001 - Named by CNN and Time as one of the country's 20 foremost physicians and scientists. Carson was also named as one of 89 "Living Legends" by the Library of Congress.
  • 2004 - Named by President George W. Bush to serve on President's Council on Bioethics.
  • 2006 - Awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor from the NAACP.
  • 2008 - Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bush.
  • Carson has published eight books including his autobiography, which was made into a movie starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Dr. Carson.

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