Black medical students from across Canada meet in Toronto

April 26, 2023

When Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 from Abuja crash-landed and burst into flames at Port Harcourt International Airport in Nigeria in December 2005 killing 108 of the 110 passengers and crew, Gbolahan Olarewaju was devastated.

On board the ill-fated plane were 61 students from Loyola Jesuit College, which he attended, who were on their way home for the Christmas holidays.

Olarewaju’s best friend died in the fiery crash and he knew almost half of the deceased students.

“That was a very difficult time and what it made me realize is how fragile life is,” he said. “I was just 15 at the time and I started to give serious thought as to what I wanted to do with my life. In some way, I knew I needed to be in health care, preserving life.”

A few months after the tragedy, Olarewaju moved to Canada.

He completed an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences and a Master’s in Human Health & Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph.

After finishing his graduate degree in 2013, Olarewaju worked in Student Affairs at the University of Guelph, served on the Guelph Black Heritage Society Board of Directors and did a two-week stint in Guatemala working with local physicians in a rural community before relocating to British Columbia for a job opportunity.

“I was trying to get into health care because I knew that is where I wanted to be,” he said. “I sent out about 200 applications and got three interviews.”

Olarewaju was a Research Co-ordinator at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS for two-and-a-half years.

“Working with doctors and public health officials motivated me to apply to medical school,” he noted.

In July, Olarewaju will start his residency in public health and family medicine after graduating from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine.

He was the inaugural Chair of the Black Medical Students’ Association (BMSA) of Canada that held its annual general meeting (AGM) in Toronto on April 1.

Nearly 150 medical students from the 17 medical schools across the country attended.

Drs. Helen Teklemariam and Yohanna Asghedom founded the association in 2020.

Olarewaju said the first year was challenging.

“You would raise the issue of under-representation and people would look around and ask what we are talking about,” he recalled. “After the George Floyd murder, everyone wanted to talk to us to find out what they could do better. We were still in our infancy stage as an organization trying to figure out who we are, yet we felt there was a need for us to really step up as advocates and strike while the iron was hot. We were trying to do all of this at the height of COVID.”

Outgoing Chair Julianah Oguntala is also of Nigerian heritage.

In 2008, she and her family migrated to the Greater Toronto Area.

Julianah Oguntala (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

With a younger brother suffering from febrile seizures, the then 10-year-old accompanied her dad to a local hospital late one night after he suffered a medical episode.

“In the emergency room, I remember seeing medical personnel putting my brother on a stretcher and getting him stabilized,” said Oguntala who enjoys tutoring and singing. “Though I did not fully grasp what was going on, I sensed the work these people did was very important as they were trying to save a life. That was what got me to consider medicine as a career.”

After a year at York University, she graduated from the University of Guelph Biomedical Sciences program and is now a third-year medical student at the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

Oguntala spent her year in the Chair strengthening partnerships across the country.

“Coming into this role, I didn’t know what to expect as this was my first time taking on such a major position,” she said. “However, I came in knowing I wanted to connect with Black medical students and make a difference.”

UBC medical students Robyn and Kimberley Thomas, who grew up in Calgary, credit their parents for their presence in medical school.

“They taught us so much about going for our dreams and they encouraged us to work hard and be never intimidated by the systems that are not designed for us,” said Robyn who, as a student in the UBC Okanagan interdisciplinary graduate studies program, won the eighth annual Three Minute Thesis competition in April 2021. “Though we grew up in Western Canada where we didn’t have many role models, we knew we could do this and I am incredibly fortunate to follow in my sister’s footsteps.

Sisters Robyn (l) & Kimberley Thomas (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

They are the first in their family to attend university.

Older sister Kimberley, who was born in Zimbabwe and was the recipient of the Doctors of BC Presidential Scholars Award in Medicine in 2021, is a third-year student.

“I am still undecided about my specialty,” she pointed out. “I am thinking psychiatry, family medicine or public health. I will figure it out in the next year.”

U of T medical student Morgan Martin and Beraki Abraha, who attends Memorial University in Newfoundland, were part of the subcommittee that organized the AGM.

“Seeing Black students from all 17 medical schools in Canada come together to connect, learn from each other and reflect on our experiences was so powerful,” said Martin. “I am incredibly grateful that I got to be part of such a historic event.”

McGill University medical student Khadija Brouillette is the BMSA Chair for the next year.

She completed high school at Sir Oliver Mowat Secondary School in Scarborough and graduated last year with a Bachelor of Life Science from McMaster University where she was a member of the varsity rugby team.

In 2017, Brouillette represented Canada in Rugby Sevens at the sixth Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.