After living in Angola, Africa, I returned home to Kansas City, where I joined the faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. One of my duties was to the review applications from prospective students. Oh the expressiveness with which they declared motivation to study medicine: to help humanity, to serve the poor, […]
Harrison Ford, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, Alan Greenspan, Vladimir Puton. Just name your field of interest, and you no doubt can list its most remarkable personalities. But what about within the realm of international medical service? Who are the ones today who inspire our sentiments and stimulate us to action on behalf
In the 1980s I was living in Shanghai, China, and working at Shanghai Charity Hospital – at that time called the Third People’s Hospital. Out of this experience I wrote the book Shanghai Doctor, published by Zondervan. Against the backdrop of hospital medicine, the book is essentially a biography if Chinese Christians transcending the
The 2008 Exploring Medical Missions Conference is hosted this year by the Institute for International Medicine, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Foundation, Research Medical Center, St Luke’s Health System, the University of Kansas School of Medicine Department of Infectious Diseases, and the University of Missouri School of Medicine International Medicine Program. The Conference will be held on
Abeba was pregnant with triplets and arrived at a rural hospital with increasingly painful contractions of early labor. Prenatal care is unknown in this remote part of the globe, but a quick routine blood test was performed. Doctors shared with Abeba some dreadful news: she was HIV positive. Hours later, her babies were born, accompanied
Most health professionals dream of international service, but what motivates this ubiquitous attraction? For some, it is the reality of human suffering and a resulting sense of personal duty. Certainly the stark conditions of poverty, preventable disease, absent medical care, and needless death that affect developing nations are disturbing. Providing help is a moral
120 physicians, 146 nurses, 34 medical and nursing students and 50 others including pharmacists, dentists, therapists, and physicians assistants attended the Exploring Medical Missions Conference May 11-12 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Representatives from 16 medical mission organizations were also on hand to recruit volunteers, including Health Care Ministries (AG), Operation Mobilization (OM),
Five days ago in Myanmar (Burma) at least 22,000 people died and one million were made homeless from a cyclone that caused a 12-foot tidal wave. Most of us naturally pause, consider the catastrophe, and simply wish we could help. But nothing more. Patrick Railey is a family physician that has made a
Andre was just five years young when his parents brought him to a clinic in Africa. As I examined Andre, his parents described weeks of diarrhea and fever. Without appetite, Andre was also rapidly losing weight. On examination of Andre’s chest, I found pneumonia and on his skin, unusual growths. We treated Andre for his
English is today the dominate language of international affairs, as well as the official language of some twenty nations. Even in countries where English is not commonly spoken, translation is usually readily available. These facts frequently tempt health professions to falsely believe their ability to speak English will guarantee clear communication. “Completely untrue,” says Nicholas