Dr Claudio Jiménez is director of stroke at Simon Bolivar Hospital in Bogota, Colombia. A neurologist and neurophysiologist, he’s dedicated himself to the care of stroke patients, and to supporting the establishment of stroke centers and networks throughout Colombia. 

He says, “In Bogotá as a physician, you have a social responsibility. You can deny it. You can say, I don't want to do it, but you have it.”

The fight for better access to stroke care has moulded him into a campaigner for social justice in healthcare, not only in Colombia but everywhere the healthcare system fails to care for people as it should. 

With a unique capacity for looking at the world and seeing both the science and the wonder, Claudio believes that it’s language that makes us human, and that poetry lights a candle in the mind. 

He says, “The world we build and live in was built by language, poetry and music. Our language gives us the ability to construct a universe inside the universe. We can only do the things we do as a society because we have language and we can communiticate.” 

Preserving language and, with it, the ability to say to others that you love them, is a driving force in his battle against stroke. 

In this episode

·      Saving brain tissue saves the social fabric

·      The social responsibility of a physician in Bogotá

·      Many gods, one science

·      Being raised by women 

·      Building memories with his daughter

·      Why we need to read more poetry

·      What love’s got to do with it