As we continue our celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we take pride in the healthcare trailblazers who call Penn Medicine home.

Beginning in January of this year, Penn Medicine was happy to appoint Zarina Ali, MD, MS, FAANS, as chief of neurosurgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The first female neurosurgeon at Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Ali began her career with the University of Pennsylvania Health System as a neurosurgery resident with subspecialty training in peripheral nerve surgery.

Ali is also an assistant professor of Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine, senior fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and co-director of the multidisciplinary Penn Nerve Center. In 2020, Philadelphia Magazine named her one of 8 Trailblazing Women in Philly’s Healthcare Revolution.

Earlier this year, she spoke with Presby Bulletin about her new leadership role and her insights on working in a predominantly male-occupied medical specialty.

You can view the conversation here.