Somali refugee now director of Seattle clinic that treated her as a child

When Dr. Anisa Ibrahim and her family arrived in Seattle from Somalia in 1993, one of the first places they visited was the Harborview Medical Center's Pediatrics Clinic. Now, decades later, she is the clinic's medical director.

Ibrahim, her parents, and siblings fled Somalia during the country's civil war, and before coming to the U.S., they lived in a Kenyan refugee camp, where Ibrahim's sister contracted the measles and they were all exposed to tuberculosis. Ibrahim, who was just 6 when she moved to Seattle and was treated at the clinic, decided at that early age that she wanted to become a doctor. "I can say I know life is tough in a refugee camp," she told King 5 News. "I know life is tough settling in a new country and not speaking English and not knowing where the grocery store is and being isolated from the rest of your family."

Ibrahim went to medical school at the University of Washington, and after completing her residency, found herself back at Harborview Medical Center's Pediatrics Clinic. She is "passionate" about the clinic, she said, and as its new medical director, Ibrahim is working closely with immigrants and refugees in the community, specifically those from East Africa. She is glad that kids from Somalia can look at her and see someone familiar, and loves the close relationships she has formed with her patients. "It's amazing seeing children who I saw at three days of life now telling me about their first day of kindergarten," Ibrahim said.

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