ATLANTA — Tony Hansberry isn't your typical 15-year-old. While most teens his age are out of school for summer break, the magnet school student spent the day demonstrating a surgical stitching technique he created to doctors at Northside Hospital.
"Medicine is my passion," said Hansberry, whose stitching technique reduces discomfort for patients undergoing uterine surgery.
Hansberry was among a group of students who teamed up with company representatives from Covidien, a leader in cutting-edge medical devices. The company demonstrated some of its single incision laparoscopic surgery products at Northside.
Hansberry will be part of the first graduating class at Darnell Cookman School in Jacksonville, Fla. It's the only medical magnet high school of its kind in the country.
"I think a lot of places should have schools like our medical program, but we're just trying to show others that we can do it and it's achievable," said Hansberry.
SLIDESHOW: Teen Prodigy Shows Off Surgical Technique
Dr. Ceana Nezhat, chief of gynecology at Northside, said young people like Hansberry will revolutionize surgery because they're raised on so much technology.
"Because of children like him … 20 years from now … more than 90 percent of procedures could be done by minimally invasive surgery," said Nezhat.
Hansberry hopes to perform some of those surgeries. His goal is to specialize in neurosurgery one day.