The Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation (TMBDLF) awards annual diversity leadership scholarships - across various fields of study and sectors - to future diversity leaders. Farah, who is a doctor by profession, has been recognised as a next generation diversity leader in the medical sector, supporting Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
To apply for the scholarship, Farah submitted a statement that outlined what diversity means to her and how we could close the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) gaps. She explained that in her home country of Bangladesh, females represent only 10% of surgeons overall, and in 2024 only 13 to14% of surgeons in the UK are female. This highlights a significant DEI gap within the field of surgery.
‘It is a male-dominated area because, from my personal experience, people are still biased by gender,’ said Farah. ‘Professions like surgery require a lot of physical and mental strength, extreme hard work, passion, and dedication. Most of the time, people trust male surgeons more. Also, in some countries (like Bangladesh), women don’t like to go to male surgeons due to cultural barriers, resulting in delayed outcomes. Coupled with that, the intersectionality of brown Asian representation is surgery, which is also very low.'
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences website.