Published: 07 March 2024
Celebrated on 8 March every year, International Women’s Day is a global day dedicated towards celebrating the achievements of women, as well as raising awareness of the discrimination and inequity still faced by women in society today.
With this in mind, we caught up with current St George’s student Sharon Adebisi. Further to her academic endeavours, Sharon has done remarkable work to highlight disparities in the treatment of Black and brown women.
She has kindly shared her story with us, as well as some words of wisdom for women aspiring to enter the world of healthcare.
About Sharon
Tell us about yourself and your work here at St George’s, including any societies, groups or initiatives you’ve been involved with.
Hello. I’m Sharon, a lover of books, hiking, bossa nova and the Toy Story franchise.
I have been told that I tend to be quite ‘deep’ and people often leave conversations with me feeling like they’ve had a counselling session.
Outside of therapising my friends and the people that I meet, I am a fourth year medical student at St George’s, and interested in becoming an obstetrician and massage therapist.
I am currently one of the Presidents of St George’s Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society; a role that has provided me with a platform to highlight topics that I believe are important within women’s maternal health. One of the topics I am passionate about tackling is the statistic that Black women are 4 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women in the UK.
- Sharon Adebisi, fourth year medical student at St George’s -
Recently, I led an online event titled Why are Black and brown women more likely to die in childbirth, and what can we do about it? and it received a lot of positive engagement!
My society made a summary leaflet of the insights shared (i.e. how staff can be racist without realising it, how to tackle these stats, supportive insights to be shared with Black and brown mums), which of course I made sure to email every O&G doctor and midwife I’ve ever encountered across the hospitals in south west of London.
My next project is to amplify the voices of Black and brown mums within medicine, and incorporate more patient experiences talks from Black and brown mothers into our curriculum, to reduce the levels of unconscious bias leading to the harrowing mortality statistics. And of course, most importantly to work on becoming a massage therapist.
- Sharon Adebisi, fourth year medical student at St George’s -
Being a woman in the healthcare sector
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
International Women’s Day to me means acknowledging the tremendous contributions women have made within society. It means celebrating the tenacity of women for thriving in a society that was not designed with their success in mind.
- Sharon Adebisi, fourth year medical student at St George’s -
What barriers have you faced as a woman in the science, healthcare or medicine sector?
An indirect barrier that I constantly experience is being overlooked. The accumulation of being overlooked over a period of time can subconsciously plant seeds of imposter syndrome, decreasing one’s self-confidence, impacting their quality of work, which may further limit one’s opportunities. I have definitely struggled with my self-confidence due to constantly feeling overlooked in the medical space, but thankfully I have supportive friends and family who encourage me to be bold, and remind me of who I am.
What advice would you have for women aspiring to enter the science, healthcare or medicine sector?
First of all, your wellbeing comes first. You cannot give from an empty cup, and the healthcare environment will try and take a lot from you. Don’t see investing in yourself as ‘wasting money/time’; actually book that public speaking class, or therapy. Engage in new things, read that book, or listen to that thought-provoking podcast. Say nice things about yourself. Spend less time on your phone, more time alone, and listen to yourself.
Once you are caring for yourself you will find it easier to care about others.
When you start to care about others, you will find yourself actively trying to make small positive differences in people’s day.
As you start to make small positive differences, you start to become passionate about bigger things, which may lead to you advocating for patients, spearheading research on a niche area, or leading medical projects that you may even get recognised for.
Remember that not everything will go your way, and this is okay. You will receive rejections, be overlooked, score poorly on an exam, fail a test, get ignored. It is a fact of life. However all these things do is help you acquire diligence, resilience, better organisation skills, patience, smarter studying methods and just sharpen you into the best version of yourself.
- Sharon Adebisi, fourth year medical student at St George’s -
Learn how to be curious about things. ‘Curiosity is the compass that leads us to our passions’. Curiosity is what underpins all research.
My last piece of advice is something I got from Malone Mukwende (Mind The Gap). When you are in a room full of senior healthcare professionals, and feeling less than, remind yourself that the only thing that is different between you and them, is time.
Women inspiring women
Are there any women who’ve particularly influenced or inspired you along your journey?
Definitely. My medical school friends: Vicky, Oma, Temi, Tsara, Chantal, Jacquelyn, Kalah and Morayo. Sometimes, when I look in utter despair at the 700+ medical conditions that I’m expected to know in detail within the space of 5 months, I just look at my friends still pushing on, staying positive, making me laugh. They make me think, if they can pull their boots up and just get on with it, I can too!
I’m also inspired by Dr Christina Baboonian; even though she never remembers who I am anytime she sees me, I will never forget how kind she has been to me, my old PBL group in third year, and to everyone she encounters. She inspires me to be kind to others, no matter what. You may forget what someone says, or does, but you never forget how they made you feel.
Sharon's achievements
What’s been your proudest achievement, either here at St George’s or generally?
At this point in my life, my proudest achievement has been getting into medical school. It took a journey of 6 years and 12 medical school rejections before I got accepted.
From my GCSEs, because I got a B in Biology at my grammar school, I was told to be ‘realistic’ and not pick Biology for my A-levels. From my sixth form, because I got a B in my first year in Biology, I was told to be ‘realistic’, and pursue an alternative career outside of medicine.
Towards the end of my first degree, when I was asking my dissertation tutor for a reference, I was told to be ‘realistic’, as it’s nearly impossible for a graduate to get into medical school. If I had been ‘realistic’, and allowed the doubts of others to be my guide, I would not be the 4th year medical student, President of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society and Sotheby’s-auctioned contemporary artist that I am today!
- Sharon Adebisi, fourth year medical student at St George’s -