{"id":54824,"date":"2025-11-20T23:17:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T23:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/54824\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T23:17:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T23:17:36","slug":"former-um-neurologist-explains-post-that-led-to-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/54824\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UM neurologist explains post that led to resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dr. Michelle Bravo, a doctor who resigned from the University of Miami\u2019s Miller Center, sees what other neurologists might miss. That\u2019s how she saved a 21-year-old\u2019s life during her first years as an adjunct professor.<\/p>\n

When a young man was about to be sent home after the primary medical team found nothing wrong with him, Bravo and her student resident asked for more tests. One CT scan later, they discovered he actually had lymphoma, a cancer that attacks brain nerves.<\/p>\n

Bravo thought she\u2019d have more moments like this at UM. Then, on Sept. 11, 2025, while she was in Brazil for the 22nd International Headache Congress, she was informed that an Instagram repost concerning Charlie Kirk that she had made on her public account had gone viral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She resigned from UM two days later.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole life was turned upside down after that post,\u201d Bravo said in an interview with The Hurricane. Yet, the post also introduced her to a world of supporters, whose kind messages helped her get a new job.<\/p>\n

Her Sept. 11 repost showed an X tweet from @zei_squirrel made on Sept. 10, the day Kirk died after being shot while addressing an audience at Utah Valley University.<\/p>\n

It read, \u201cWhat was done to Charlie Kirk has been done to countless Palestinian babies, children, girls, boys, women and men not just over the past two years of the ongoing genocide, but decades. And whenever it happened, and it\u2019s on camera and we all saw it, Charlie Kirk came out to say: I love this, I want more of this. The people who did this are great and I love them and they should keep doing it forever. As Malcolm said, the chickens have come home to roost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But then, Stop Antisemitism<\/a>, a nonprofit group, found her story. The organization advocates for people they claim are antisemitic to be fired from their jobs, including YouTuber and preschool teacher Ms. Rachel<\/a> and New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mandami.<\/p>\n

Stop Antisemitism condemned the post to its 593,000 followers on its social<\/a> media<\/a> pages with a picture of Bravo, her Instagram account and the caption, \u201cHow can this woman be entrusted with patients?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of the time of this reporting, its Instagram post has 10,700 likes and X tweet has more than a million views. The posts have a combined total of more than four thousand comments.<\/p>\n

\u201c@flgovrondesantis<\/a> please make sure @umiamimedicine<\/a> doesn\u2019t allow Dr. Michelle Bravo to practice medicine,\u201d Instagram user @mamalaz33 said under Stop Antisemitism\u2019s post. \u201cShe promotes political assassination. No patient should be left in her \u201ccare\u201d.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most commenters asked for Bravo to be fired and say they\u2019re waiting to see how the University will respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey @UMiamiHealth<\/a> and @umiamimedicine<\/a>,\u201d X user @geraldpostner said under Stop Antisemitism\u2019s tweet. \u201cfor those of us who live in South Florida, you are going to lose the trust of a LOT of patients if you make us feel unsafe because one of your physicians hates Israelis, Jews, Zionists, and admirers of Charlie Kirk. Take some action!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo and her husband dealt with death threats, doxing and cruel messages the next day. When they returned from Brazil, they decided to move away from South Florida for their safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMichelle was blindsided, and it was clear she felt an enormous weight of fear, loss and confusion,\u201d Bravo\u2019s husband, who wished to remain unnamed, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bravo doesn\u2019t regret reposting the X tweet, she only regrets seeing how it was misunderstood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m apologetic that people interpreted it negatively,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cIt was never my intent to endorse or condone violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the fallout, Bravo still sympathizes with the tweet. She sees her advocacy as another part of being a physician.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a hippocratic oath to never do harm, to take care of people\u2019s lives. That\u2019s my role as a physician,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cBut as physicians, we still have to stand up for social inequities and injustices that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo is a vocal supporter of Palestinians as bombings in Gaza continue to take more than 69,000 lives according to Gaza health officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She knew Kirk had claimed \u201cPalestine doesn\u2019t exist\u201d<\/a> when discussing its independence from Israel. Still, wanting to be well-informed across politics, Bravo would tune into his debates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of having discourse that he promoted is actually a good thing,\u201d Bravo said.<\/p>\n

Bravo was shocked and upset when the news about his death broke. But another headline also grabbed her attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sept. 10 in Colorado around the same time Kirk was shot, a 16-year-old armed with a revolver walked into Evergreen High School<\/a> during lunchtime and shot and killed two students. Bravo found it harder to find updates about the Evergreen shooting as the Kirk situation kept developing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy aren\u2019t we also talking about other people that have also died because of gun violence recently?\u201d Bravo said. \u201cI started to see the selective empathy in people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo wanted to be part of a change that connects Kirk\u2019s assassination to a bigger picture about the overall growth of gun violence in the world, from Israel to Colorado. @zei_squirrel\u2019s X tweet gave her that opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[The tweet] made me think about the kids in Colorado,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cIt made me think about all these horrific images that I\u2019ve seen of Palestinian children being shot and burned alive.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bravo shared it with her Instagram followers, which were mostly family and friends, to \u201cpromote more humanity\u201d and \u201copen people\u2019s eyes.\u201d Her post reached far more eyes than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther people found out about [the viral repost] before I found out about it,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cI was horrified to learn that what was intended to be a private story was just shared among the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n

She feared for her reputation, livelihood and career as she talked through her anxiety with her husband and therapists while she was still in Brazil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bravo went to sleep that night not knowing what would come next. There was nothing to do but wait to see how the University would respond. To protect her career, Bravo ultimately chose to resign.<\/p>\n

@zei_squirrel never thought their words could be the reason someone gets harassed online or fear for their life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel terrible that my words were used against Mrs. Bravo,\u201d\u00a0 @zei_squirrel said. \u201cI hope she will challenge this act of blatant censorship that violates core free-speech principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo left Brazil on Saturday night wondering if she was part of a database filled with people who criticized Kirk after his death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if my address was online and someone\u2019s going to be waiting to kill me,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cThose were all the thoughts I had, I was terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo and her husband came home just to leave. They said goodbye to their time in South Florida, a time that\u2019s now marked by fear, trauma and tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cAnd for people to have those thoughts of me as being a violent person or anti semitic, it\u2019s just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

An outpouring of love from friends, patients and strangers she got hours later helped her remember she\u2019s the same exceptional physician her husband tells her she is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a grieving process,\u201d Bravo\u2019s husband said. \u201cBut with time, support, and distance from the online hostility, she began to reconnect with her confidence, joy and sense of self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewish patients, like Teresa Liberatore, left supportive comments on the same platform many used to leave hateful words for Bravo.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial assessment with an ER doctor was insufficient and laughably mediocre, and he deemed my medical episode evidence of Bell\u2019s Palsy,\u201d Liberatore said. \u201cAfter Dr. Bravo\u2019s medical examination, she accurately pre-diagnosed me with an MS pseudo exacerbation. Her sharp and exemplary talent and patient care during my experience cannot be understated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo\u2019s sharp instincts and care for her patients was noticed by a large medical institution when she was applying for a new job. When she was interviewed, she explained what had happened and left feeling uncertain. Days later, she was hired for the clinic\u2019s headache division.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a renewed sense of purpose and excitement to return to doing what she loves most: taking care of patients,\u201d Bravo\u2019s husband said. \u201cShe\u2019s stronger, more centered and ready to move forward without letting this experience define her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bravo wanted to open her followers\u2019 eyes to humanity with her repost. In the end, she saw some of the best and worst of humanity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat [some people online] wanted didn\u2019t happen, I got another job, I\u2019m successful, I\u2019m happy,\u201d Bravo said. \u201cWe have to continue to be successful. We need to continue to advocate for the things that we know are right.\u201d<\/p>\n