Profile of Fatima Lawan '23

BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES MAJOR FROM LAGOS, NIGERIA

Fatima standing in front of a brick wall.

I sit down to interview Fatima Lawan in a rather nondescript study room of Tisch Library. When she comes in, she lights up the room with her impeccably coordinated all-blue outfit, complete with a set of tiny, blue mushroom earrings. We discuss her journey to Tufts, the parallels and differences between the Nigerian and American healthcare systems, and her passion for medicine. I ask her why she aspires to become a doctor, and she ends her response with, “I love people. I also love to talk—I love to talk.” Towards the very end of our interview, she briefly mentions that she applied to the Tufts Early Assurance Program, which guarantees a spot at the Tufts Medical School. “Wait, did you get in?” I ask. As soon as she confirms this tremendous achievement I heartily congratulate her, feeling a sense of joy, relief, and excitement. In the moments between laughter and thought-provoking conversation, I acknowledge that she is exactly the type of person anyone would love to have for a doctor: warm, communicative, incredibly intelligent, and most of all, compassionate.

Fatima Lawan was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, where she picked the path of a STEM student in the Nigerian education system. Though she felt fortunate that the interest she picked early on continued to match her aspirations, she always yearned to explore the liberal arts. “In my high school, we had ‘science’ students and ‘art’ students. We chose very rigid tracks. I loved physics and literature—but I couldn’t take both,” she explains. Early in her college search process, Fatima considered attending college in the United Kingdom, as her two older sisters had done. However, she quickly changed her attention to the United States, believing that the US higher education system would give her more time to explore a variety of interests before attending medical school. Fatima first heard about Tufts when she sat down with an advisor who worked for Education USA Lagos, an organization dedicated to helping high-achieving Nigerian students get admitted to and attend US colleges and universities. “My advisor looked at me and said, ‘Hmm, I remember meeting someone from this school called Tufts two and a half years ago—they remind me of you,’” Fatima recounts. “It turned out to be a good match.”

At Tufts, Fatima is a biology and environmental studies double major, co-president of Tufts Mock Trial, and a member of the Maternal Advocacy and Research for Community Health (MARCH) executive board. MARCH is an undergraduate student organization focused on addressing maternal health and child health disparities, especially in regards to BIPOC communities at local and global levels. Her main research interests are understanding the effects of systematic oppression on the healthcare system and the impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color. She recalls her experience in Introduction to Environmental Studies, where she felt that learning about case studies and reading research papers felt validating because there were real scientific explanations to her lived experiences. Fatima constantly applies her environmental studies background to ask bigger picture questions, especially in her biology and chemistry classes. “Sometimes even when classes are phrased as ‘hard’ STEM classes, I’ve found that any time I try to bring in other interdisciplinary aspects, I’ve never been shut down by a professor,” she states. Her emphasis on bringing in a “human factor” is pronounced in the way she approaches academics and in the way she views medicine.

Though Fatima has always wanted to be a doctor, she admits that pursuing it has often felt intimidating—in her head, nothing is quite as challenging as taking on the multifaceted role of being a doctor. However, throughout her time at Tufts, she has developed a “Yes, and?” attitude: she acknowledges something’s tremendous weight and—despite all odds—pursues it diligently. Additionally, she aims to be the representation she feels is lacking in the healthcare system and hopes to specialize in women and children’s patient care. “Thinking about it as a Muslim woman, generally speaking, I’m much more comfortable when treated by someone who looks like me,” she states. She also feels passionate about the importance of female doctors, especially when treating women who have recently dealt with sexual assault or harassment and prefer to be in the presence of other women. “I haven’t seen enough Black women doing this type of work, or people that look like me, and if I haven’t seen people that look like me, I am a person that looks like me,” she states. With the sense that her dreams are becoming a reality, Fatima Lawan is ready for what’s to come—she’s ready to be the change she wants to see. —VALERIA VELASQUEZ ’23