The following was sent out from The Washington Post’s Well+Being editor Tara Parker Pope:
I’m thrilled to announce that Dr. Shirlene Obuobi, a cardiologist, cartoonist and author, will be joining the Well+Being desk of the Washington Post as a regular contributor.
Shirlene will write a monthly column about navigating the medical system and create an accompanying comic panel, offering a behind the scenes look at the challenges faced by both doctors and patients.
Shirlene brings an unusual combination of knowledge and skills to the Well+Being desk. She is a second-year cardiology fellow at University of Chicago medical center. She began drawing comics in 2016 to chronicle her experiences as a medical student at the university’s Pritzker School of Medicine.
Her comics, which have focused on the challenges of being a Ghanaian-American woman in medicine and the challenges of medical school, have gained nearly 38,000 followers on her Instagram account. Her comics have been featured in UChicago Medicine, Proto Magazine and the Medical University of Vienna’s Art, Action, Attitude/Body exhibit.
In July, Shirlene published a novel, “On Rotation,” about a Ghanaian-American medical student. The book was a Marie Claire book club pick and featured in Teen Vogue, Bustle, Cosmopolitan, Boston.com and The Washington Post.
Shirlene grew up in Chicago, Hot Springs, Ark. and The Woodlands, Texas. She lives in Chicago and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a philosophy-neuroscience-psychology major. When she’s not in the hospital she works on her second novel, draws comics and spends time with her husband and three cats Kahlo, Balthazar and Minerva.
