Readers are Leaders: Meet Dr. Electron Kebebew

Ethiopia Reads has great news! We are pleased to announce that we have appointed our first Goodwill Ambassador, Dr. Electron Kebebew, an eminent surgeon and scientist, book lover and longtime supporter of Ethiopia Reads.  Dr. Kebebew spent the first ten years of his life in Ethiopia before moving to California with his family. Today, he is a Professor of Surgery at Stanford University and Chief of General Surgery at Stanford Health Care. We are delighted and honored that he has agreed to represent Ethiopia Reads, and our work for literacy and education in Ethiopia.

Since childhood, Electron has loved reading and has helped to raise his own two children to be avid readers. He remembers very well the first Amharic storybook given to him by a 3rd grade teacher to read outside of school. The book described the life of a peasant boy who learned many important life lessons as a cattle herder. This book in his mother tongue made such a powerful impact on little Electron that he can still picture it in his mind today.

A Lifelong Reader Well Beyond Science

Many years later, while studying Chemical Engineering as an undergraduate at UCLA, Dr. Kebebew took English literature classes and fell in love with the books and poetry of Maya Angelou. Years later, despite a very busy professional and family life, reading still keeps Dr. Kebebew inspired and engaged in the world outside of medicine and science. “Whenever I have time, or when I am on vacation, I always read novels or biographies to explore and understand lives and worlds beyond surgery and cancer research papers.” His recent favorites are the autobiographies Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Born a Crime by  Trevor Noah, two different, brilliant writers describing their experiences of growing up in Baltimore, Maryland and Johannesburg, South Africa.

In December 2017, Dr. Kebebew visited Ethiopia Reads’ Gebeta Library with his family and was impressed with the number of Ethiopian language books in the library. He was delighted to see how many neighborhood children spent time in the library enjoying the books and received homework help. Since then he, his wife and Ethiopia Reads’ Board Member, Tida Violante, and both their children have been strong and active supporters of our work.

A Leader in Improving the Science and Treatment of Endocrine Cancer

Dr. Kebebew completed his medical studies at UCSF and today is a leading researcher and surgeon in endocrine oncology.  Dr. Kebebew is a Board Certified General Surgeon by the American Board of Surgery. He was the inaugural Chief of Endocrine Oncology Branch at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Currently, Dr. Kebebew is the Harry A. Oberhelman, Jr. and the Mark L. Welton Professor at Stanford University.  Additionally, he is the Editor-in-Chief for the scientific journal Thyroid.
 
He remains personally and professionally engaged with the country of his birth, having worked at Addis Ababa’s Black Lion Hospital during medical school and traveling in Ethiopia as an adult. In 2019, Dr. Kebebew returned to speak as an invited guest of the nonprofit People to People for World Cancer Day at the Black Lion Hospital.

Join Dr. Kebebew in reading a poem #EthiopiaReadsOutLoud

We would like to thank Dr. Kebebew for joining us to bring back the love of children’s books in Ethiopia. “I am pleased to be a champion for children’s literature and to represent the valuable work of Ethiopia Reads. If it wasn’t for the value that my family placed on education and reading, I would not be where I am today.”

Please enjoy a short video of Dr. Kebebew reading a children’s poem  by the well loved and humorous Shel Silverstein entitled “Instructions”; Send us a video of yourself reading a short poem or tag us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram #EthiopiaReadsOutLoud

Our Goodwill Ambassador Electron Kebebew is a great example of what we always say to young students in Ethiopia: Readers are Leaders!