I love sightseeing.

“To give someone their senses back is really satisfying,” says Dr. Kia Washington, director of research and professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, CU Anschutz Medical Campus. “To restore form and function in the hand or restore someone’s vision not only changes their life but also transforms how they see the world.”

Dr. Washington is leading groundbreaking research in Whole Eye Transplantation, a procedure never successfully performed in humans. Her work is so promising that the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Warfighters Program awarded her a $6 million grant to advance her research.

“What drew me to medicine was the desire to impact people's lives on multiple levels,” says Washington, who is also the first Black female plastic surgeon in the U.S. to hold the title of full professor. “As a researcher, you can impact a large group of people, and as a physician, you can make a difference on an individual level.”

In addition to driving life-changing eye transplant research and innovative hand surgery programs on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, Washington also serves as vice chair of diversity and inclusion in the Department of Surgery at the CU School of Medicine. “Historically, academia and surgery have been dominated by white men,” she notes. “The challenge is to deconstruct that system and bring more diverse voices into the field.”

“My goal, especially in my work with diversity, is to create a space where people feel they belong,” she adds. “They shouldn’t have to fit into a pre-existing system but can instead bring their unique talents and authentic selves to the table.”