Faith Robertson ’09

From early youth Faith Robertson ’09 found her life’scalling and has been pursuing it with both diligence and passion.While at SHS Faith ran cross country and track (team captain in both sports for two years each), played basketball, served as vice president of Student Council, president of Key Club and helped edit the Scarlet S. She was voted homecoming queen,named a delegate to Buckeye Girls State and was class valedictorian. She then graduated with high honors from Duke University she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry and, with her future career firmly in mind, wrote her honors thesis on the role of metabolism in therapeutic resistance to breast cancer. Next came a research fellowship at the National Cancer Institute where she investigated the role of natural killer T cells in tumor immunosuppression. Afterward she entered Harvard University’s Medical School where she earned her M.D. in 2019. Her specialty: neurosurgery. She delayed graduating one year so that she could work in the Philippines while completing her master’s degree in global health and global surgery from King’s College London. Next comes a seven-year residency in neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Currently she also is leading the Association of Women Surgeons National Medical Student Committee that has members in 21 countries. Faith makes time to remain fit, having completed seven marathons and one triathlon. Observes a fellow SHS alum, “Faith stands out as a stellar example of a Shelby High graduate who has been building on her academic foundation in a way that serves the greater good.”