Transcending Surgeon is a one hour documentary film about top trauma surgeon Dr. Edward Cornwell III and the challenges and impact of his career. This documentary explores Dr. Cornwell's family upbringing, mentors, education and other guiding forces which led to his successful career. It does so in the context of African American pioneers in medicine, and that many of his patients represent the realities of another side of urban African American life, communities beset by poverty, inadequate education and violence.