Dr. KMarie King’s office is located on the top floor of the Albany Medical Center Surgeons Pavilion. King’s role as the chair of the department of surgery and chief of surgery at the hospital started in September.

It’s been a busy first few months for King, especially with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But she’s already laying out her ideas and visions for this department as she settles into the role.

“I want them to participate in teaching. I want them to do scholarly activities, and I want them to be good citizens of AMC,” King said.

King says she knew she wanted to be a doctor since she was 8-years-old. Her journey took her from Brooklyn to the Mayo Clinic, to the University of Pittsburgh and even the Army. Last summer, King left a hospital in Atlanta to make history in Albany as the first Black female chair of surgery in the country.

“There’s a thousand Black female surgeons in the U.S. That’s it,” King said. “So it’s really quite rare to walk into a room and see your surgeon is a Black female.”

The opportunity is exciting for King. But she says a part of her also felt sad it took this long to break these barriers. King knows there are plenty of other Black women who came before her who could also do it, but were not afforded the opportunity.

But progress is being made. King highlights that just a few weeks after her appointment, Howard University named Andrea Hayes chair of its department of surgery.

“Sometimes you feel like you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” King said. “But you still have to believe in yourself and who you are and what you can accomplish, and take that step forward day by day.”