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Neurosurgeon Linda Liau, MD, 49, Professor and Director of the UCLA Brain Tumor Program walks out of the operating theatre after successfully removing a tumour from a patient at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, United States, May 26, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dr. Linda Liau works with the precision of a master, peering into a patient's head with magnifying loupes as she removes a brain tumour.

When Liau was called into an emergency room as a surgeon more than 20 years ago to help treat a car crash victim, another member of the medical team assumed she was a nurse.