When Umaymah Mohammad embarked on pursuing a medical degree and a doctoral degree in sociology at Emory University in 2019, her dream was to become both a primary care physician and professor specialising in structural violence within the healthcare system.
But her dream was cut short after she was suspended from Emory’s School of Medicine last year for expressing concern about a faculty member who volunteered as a reserve medic for Israel during its war on Gaza and returned to teach at the school in Atlanta, Georgia.
She never named the faculty member in her appearance on Democracy Now!
Mohammad is currently suspended from Emory’s medical department until the end of the 2027-2028 academic year and will be under probation until her delayed graduation date of 2029. She is believed to be the first medical student to be suspended for protesting against the war on Gaza.
More damaging, however, is the fact that the suspension is on her permanent record, which she says will prohibit her from practising medicine, a blow to her long-cherished ambitions.
