Chidiebere Ibe

Chidiebere Ibe is a Nigerian medical student at Copperbelt University in Zambia, and the lead medical illustrator of the International Center for Genetic Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Chidiebere Sunday Ibe is from Ebonyi State in Nigeria. he was born 31 March 1996. Having lost his mother to surgery for fibroid, he became passionate about medicine, especially as it relates to mothers and children. He is a self-taught medical illustrator. He learnt to draw medical illustrations using just a computer mouse. He is aspiring to be a pediatric neurosurgeon.

Education and career

He is a graduate of Chemistry from the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. In 2020, he became creative director of the Journal of Global Neurosurgery, and lead medical illustrator of the International Center for Genetic Disease at Harvard Medical School. In 2021, he raised money for tuition to attend Kyiv Medical University in Ukraine, and enrolled as a first-year medical student the same year. Ibe aspires to be a neurosurgeon. Ibe is currently Research Fellow, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons. He is a Pioneer Member of Community-Based Primary Health Care Community of Practice. he is currently the Chief Medical Illustrator and Creative Director – Journal of Global Neurosurgery. Creative Director–Continental Association of African Neurosurgical Societies, (YNF). He is also Creative Director–Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, AFAN. He currently also a Junior Member – World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, Global Neurosurgery Committee.

Medical illustrations

In July 2020, Ibe began drawing medical illustrations with Black people as subjects in response to the use of white subjects in the vast majority of such illustrations, hoping to promote diversity in the illustrations used by the medical textbooks used in medical training, and noting that "many conditions and signs look different based on the patient’s skin colour and therefore the black skin should be equally represented." He has illustrated various medical subjects including a fetus in a womb as well as excema. In early December 2021, he went viral on social media as a result of his illustrations. His fetus-in-womb illustration had received more than 81,000 likes .

Controversy

Following Ibe's social media success, users on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn revealed that the illustration of the black fetus was copied and color-graded from a pre-existing illustration. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that Ibe's portfolio of work contained excessive accounts of plagiarism and copyright infringement. Ibe stole artwork from published anatomical atlases, medical journals, and the portfolios of actively-practicing medical illustrators while claiming them to be original. Ibe sold the artwork as an NFT on OpenSea on January 13, 2022 for 0.500 ETH (~$826.80 USD) https://opensea.io/assets/matic/0x2953399124f0cbb46d2cbacd8a89cf0599974963/45110050715375924462999110706658916184644258342357478168760227194172050767873

In early 2022, Ibe was removed as a speaker at "The Future of Black Health" in Toronto.

Both Ibe's training and professional background as a medical illustrator have repeatedly been called into question despite continuing to make international headlines. He has not acknowledged nor speaks to inquiries regarding his qualifications, training, or skill in this profession.

References

External links

Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibe, Chidiebere
Medical illustrators
Date of birth missing (living people)
Medical students
21st-century Nigerian people
Living people
1996 births