Dr. Babacar Cisse is a neurosurgeon and researcher whose commitment to improve care for patients now and into the future burns bright.
On August 30, 1998, Dr. Babacar Cisse boarded an airplane for the first time in his life, and arrived in the United States from his native Senegal with only $26 in his pocket and an address that his cab driver didn’t recognize. The epitome of resilience and grit, he drew on his passion for science and medicine, earning both a medical degree and a doctoral degree from Columbia University and ultimately training in neurosurgery. Now a neurosurgeon and researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Cisse does not see burnout as becoming a problem for him—like a burning candle helps people see, he perseveres by knowing his work is creating light in his patients’ lives.