Suzanne Barakat: Islamophobia Killed My Brother. Let’s End the Hate

On February 10, 2015, Suzanne Barakat’s brother Deah, her sister-in-law Yusor and Yusor’s sister Razan were murdered by their neighbor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The perpetrator’s story, that he killed them over a traffic dispute, went unquestioned by the media and police until Suzanne Barakat spoke out at a press conference, calling the murders what they really were: hate crimes.

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ABOUT Suzanne Barakat

She is a Resident Physician at The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and was born and raised in North Carolina where she attended UNC Chapel Hill for both Undergraduate and Medical School.

Since the deaths of Deah, Yusor and Razan she speaks out against bigotry and violence towards those society deems different. She has made it her mission to counter Islamophobia with her message of inclusivity, while sounding the alarm that unless we can stem the tide of hate, anyone who society marginalises as ‘other’ faces an increased risk of violence. “I have a responsibility to continue carrying Deah’s message and to continue their legacy of community service, spread of love and awareness, and eradicating ignorance with education.”

During Medical School, she spent a year at UCSF-SFGH researching gestational diabetes and post-partum mental health outcomes in low-income Latina women. While at UCSF, she also translated an online mood screener into Arabic, the results of which contributed to a first-of-its-kind Mental Health Assessment of Arabic-speaking communities world wide.

She later spent time on the Turkish-Syrian border, working at a makeshift Polyclinic (clinics that provide both general and specialist examinations and treatments to outpatients and is usually independent of a hospital) serving 20,000 refugees displaced by the ongoing conflict in Syria.

She is passionate about womens’ health, mental and global health and social justice. What drives her most is the privilege to connect with people in a manner unique to medicine, being reminded through her interactions that every person has a story – and no story is small. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, honing her interest in photography, and spending quality time with her husband.

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