About The Author

Dr. Claybrooks was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up on the west side of the city, which had its share of drugs and violence. He grew up seeing many things, but one thing that he did not see was success being the result of the neighborhood activities. He was not exactly sure of where he wanted to go, but he was definitely sure of where he did not want to end up.

He attended Michigan State University for his undergraduate education. He obtained his medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. His postgraduate training was in the discipline of Orthopedic Surgery. He has since developed an interest in diseases of the spine.

Even though Dr. Claybrooks has reached his goal of becoming a surgeon he has not forgotten those that he left behind. He has attempted to reach back through this book that is filled with the lessons that he has learned along the way.

If Dr. Roderick Claybrooks had his way, academic superstars would be as popular as “American Idol” and as publicized as the Super Bowl. It pains him that many youths “especially African-American boys and girls” see entertainment or athletics as their only ticket to success.

“You have a much better chance of becoming a surgeon than of becoming the next Kobe Bryant,” Claybrooks, a spine surgeon, tells them. To which he often gets a puzzled look. But Claybrooks, 36, doesn’t back down. He backs it up with numbers.

He says there are about 400 men playing in the NBA, but hundreds of thousands of doctors. There are 921,904 physicians, including 161,370 surgeons, in the United States, according to the American Medical Association.

“An education, a good education, is the surest ticket out of the ghetto,” Claybrooks says emphatically. He knows because, although he didn’t grow up poor, education opened doors to opportunities he would have had no other way.

He’s so convinced of it that he wrote “The Black Student’s Guide to Success” and published it himself late last year. Claybrooks says he was driven to write the book because it bothered him that so many kids he talked to had limited aspirations and many people he treated had promise but were doing nothing to develop their potential.

National radio personality Steve Harvey was so impressed with Claybrooks and his message, “he interviewed him on his nationally syndicated show” that he invited him to be among a group of people from a variety of professions to speak to 100 students at the Disney Dreamers Academy in Florida last month.

• Graduated from Wayne State University Medical School in 1999 with honors in, Neuroscience, Surgery, Psychiatry, Neurology and Family Medicine.
  
  
• Board Certified in Orthopaedic Surgery.
  
  
• Subspecialty training in Spinal Surgery obtained from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
  
  
• Currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
  
  
• Awards
  • Recipient, Consumers' Research Council of America, Guide To America's Top Orthopaedists 2007
  • Recipient, Hour Magazine, Top Docs of 2007
  • Recipient, Bristol-Myers Squibb/National Medical Fellowships research fellowship award - May 1999
  • Recipient, United Health Care Foundation Scholarship - Aug 1996.

The keys and strategies to success are just a page away, in The Black Student’s Guide to Success. Order your copy today.