Brilliant African Lady receives Medicine degree at US institution, becoming the first graduate in her family
AFRICA | An outstanding African woman becomes the first in her family to graduate from a US university with a Doctor of Medicine degree Metabel Markwei, an exceptional African woman, has accomplished a remarkable milestone by becoming the first in her family to graduate from a US university.
She celebrated her success on Twitter, expressing pride in earning three degrees within ten years of arriving in the United States. As an immigrant, her initial goal was to complete a college degree, but her will and hard work took her far beyond that.
Metabel was raised in Ghana, in a modest addition to her family’s Accra medical practice. She enjoyed bringing her grandmother’s cooked meals to patients, even though she had no idea how the clinic operated.
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She remembers, “I would spend hours conversing with the patients and nurses when they sent me with food trays.” Unknowingly, these encounters sowed the seeds for her eventual medical profession.
As the first in her family to study abroad, Metabel started her academic journey at Yale University, majoring in Medical Anthropology and Global Health. Her goal was to explore how sociocultural and systemic forces influence healthcare.
During her studies, she discovered a passion for women’s health. She went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Biochemistry, Reproductive, Stem Cell, and Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins University.
Finally, she achieved her dream of becoming a doctor by completing her medical degree at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Metabel dedicated her achievements to immigrants, first-generation college students, and those pursuing impossible dreams.
“For dreamer-girls ‘too soft-spoken’ for surgical fields. #Firstgen immigrants with impossible odds. Black girls often the only in the room. Firsts of family to walk this path & told to aim lower. Those whose quiet confidence in God is their hope forever,” she wrote.
She thought back on her experience as an immigrant who left her home country to pursue her aspirations in the US. She said, “I am thankful to have been born in love, brought up in sacrifice, and molded in grit.”
Metabel attributed her achievement to her mentors, whom she referred to as “lighthouses,” for helping her get through difficult times, as well as to her late parents and grandparents, who motivated her with their sacrifices.
She also gave thanks to her loved ones, whose paths influenced hers. She used a statement from poet Lucille Clifton to celebrate her victory.
“Won’t you celebrate with me what I have shaped into a kind of life? Both nonwhite and woman. What did I see to be except myself? Come celebrate with me that every day something has tried to kill me and has failed.”
