The doctors moved to Finland from Somalia at a young age. Dr Ibrahim graduated from the University of East London in 2012 with honors in biochemistry degree and also studied in Oradea (Romania). Dr Hibo studied in Sheffield (UK), is an anti-racism expert; teaches diversity and inclusion through medical lense and was one of the lecturers at the first antiracism course for healthcare students (medicine, psychology and speech therapy students) at Helsinki University. She still teaches that and other courses (2-3 lectures a year). Both practice medicine in Finland with the goal of making Finnish health care equitable and accessible for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors Hibo and Ibrahim were patients before they were doctors. They know what it means not to be heard or not to be believed by health care professionals – what they experienced first hand is also well documented in research: that POC, women, children, and people with migrant background are not believed, their pain is downplayed and dismissed. The doctors also know what it means not to be seen as individual, but as involuntary representative of a group – migrants and BIPOC, for instance, are commonly lumped together, but, as they tell us in an article in the Nuori L\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4ri magazine, also drug users, people with disabilities, or LGBTQIA+ people and many more. The medicine against this kind of pain? The doctors prescribe empathy, breaking of biases and prejudice, and genuine listening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The doctors were also also students before they were doctors, in institutions that were not always welcoming and told them to consider \u201cmore realistic\u201d lines of work. Thankfully for us, they didn\u2019t listen and stuck with their plan and started practicing medicine in Finland, which, like many places and spaces is a predominantly white field, populated by white medical professionals who are trained to serve white patients. As the doctors said in a 2021 article on mediuutiset.fi and Dr. Hibo mentioned in a recent Insta post \u201cfew doctors have had the chance to study skin illnesses on dark skin\u201d(Insta), so that \u201cnowadays many doctors don\u2019t even know what dark skin looks like when it gets red or it bruises\u201d. The medicine against that we could and should all be taking? Learning, educating ourselves, following the l\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4rit on Instagram, and continuing to push for structural change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think here at ETMU, as academics, we have much to learn from Doctors Hibo and Ibrahim. First, Dr Ibrahim\u2019s advice to \u201cmeet each patient as individual, as person\u201d is something we should take to heart also researchers: Let\u2019s engage with the people in our communities that are part of or affected by our work, let\u2019s meet them as humans first, not as participants or audience. Second, let\u2019s pay attention to the knowledge gap Dr. Hibo is pointing to: Let\u2019s genuinely listen to those whose voices our fields have tended to ignore, and let\u2019s put our time and energy into educating ourselves and those around us, and into removing the structural barriers and our own biases that threaten their health and wellbeing. These are the doctors\u2019 orders! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors Hibo and Ibrahim, thank you for your important work, thank you for being a role model to us all. In the name of the ETMU board, and I think all people here, congratulations on receiving the ETMU AWard 2022.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"image0.jpeg\"](\"https:\/\/etmu.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image.png\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"