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INMED Role Models
Some of the most courageous, compassionate healthcare professionals in history serve in the most challenging communities. J. Hudson Taylor left England for China in 1854 and won the trust of the Shanghai's people through medicine. Prior to his explorations, David Livingstone lived in what is today South Africa. Ada Schudder as a teenager witnessed the tragic death of a young woman in childbirth, and proceeded to found a birthing center that has grown to one of India's most prestigious institutions. More recent healthcare professionals committed to serving the forgotten include:
John Zhangpeng
Dr. Zhangpeng is a 1999 graduate of the Shenyang Medical College in northeastern China. In 2002 he joined forces with Dr. Peter Burgos in founding Liaoning International General Health Trainers, better know by the acronym "LIGHT." Under Dr. Zhangpeng's leadership, LIGHT has since become one of the largest charitable organizations in China, providing innovative health care service for orphans and for the elderly - individuals who are often beyond the fringes of medical care. In guiding this organization, Dr. Zhangpeng draws upon his deep fund of medical, administrative, and linguistic skills, and has become an exemplary humanitarian among his fellow Chinese. |
Anil Cherian
A native of India, Anil Cherian, MD, MPH, began his career as a pediatrician at Chatarpur Christian Hospital in 1995. His leadership skills were progressively recognized, and Dr. Cherian today oversees 24 community health centers and 6 HIV/AIDS treatment programs connected with the Emmanuel Hospital Association - a major indigenous medical mission in India. He is a leader in HIV care and continues to guide development of HIV prevention in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, primarily focusing on adolescent health education, STD reduction, and whole person care. |
Daniel E. Fountain
Dr. Fountain served with his wife Miriam as a medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) from 1961-1996, representing the American Baptist Board of International Ministries. He was also as an Associate of MAP International and a founding board member of Project MedSend. Dr. Fountain is widely recognized as a visionary in community health, and was recognized in 2006 with CMDA's "Servant of Christ" Award. He is the author of several books on faith and community health, including God, Medicine and Miracles; Primary Diagnosis and Treatment; Let's Build Our Lives; and Health, the Bible and the Church. |
Cindy Obenhaus
The world of this suburban nurse was rocked in 1987 when she first visited Haiti. Enthused, Cindy continued making trips for the next fifteen years, assisting in mobile clinics and caring for sick children. Gradually a vision grew for something even greater. In 2004, she and a coalition of churches, foundations, and volunteers opened the Maison de Naissance, a modern birthing center providing free care to an impoverished Haitian community. Cindy admonishes, "As a Christian, I'm called to go out into the world to step out of my comfort zone. Being uncomfortable is good. That's where we'll find inspiration both to serve and to grow." |
Joe LeMaster
As a medical student at Kansas University Joe arranged an elective in Nepal. There, he caught a vision that would inspire him for the next two decades. Following residency in 1990, Joe and his wife Judy first served at Okhaldhunga Hospital in eastern Nepal, a 32-bed facility that provided the only medical care for 300,000 people. During a furlough Joe completed a Masters in Public Health in Developing Countries at the London School of Tropical Medicine. Over the next ten years he also promoted maternal-child health through the Okhaldhunga Primary Health Care Programme in Nepal, and he did research on leprosy with The Leprosy Mission and Anandaban Leprosy Hospital. Dr. LeMaster is recepient of the 2010 INMED International Medicine Award and highly acclaimed by the University of Missouri-Columbia. |
Lani Ackerman
This remarkable physician began her career determined to serve people who were most unreached. She honed her skills as a family medicine resident at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, and during a 6-month assignment at Memorial Christian Hospital in Bangladesh. She also married Tim and started a family. But Lani never forgot her first commitment. The Ackermans went on to serve 8 years in the nations of Nepal and Bhutam, just north of India. She taught family medicine in a national university, served in mission hospitals and orphanages in the Himalayas, and created a community project that advanced agriculture and animal husbandry. |
Stanley Shaffer
Dr. Shaffer visited Haiti on a short medical mission trip in the 1980s, and caught a vision that energized his life. He developed goals to prevent infant deaths through a strategy that addressed social injustice, poverty, and health care access. Shaffer put these goals into action through development of the Maison de Naissance, a modern birthing center and community health program in Haiti, where over 300 children at born annually. In addition to supporting this ministry in Haiti, Dr. Shaffer is Director of Neonatology at St. Luke's Health System, in Kansas City, Missouri, and leads medical student teams to Haiti in an effort to share on his vision. |
Oscar Paulo
Dr. Paulo is a native Angolan who has lived his entire life in Angola, Africa serving his native people. In 1990, he established the first charity medical care clinic north of the capital city of Luanda. He also served as leader of health ministries for the Baptist Convention of Angola. Today, Dr. Paulo is the point man for medical care in the northeastern province of Uige - a region marked by endemic malaria, tuberculosis, and malnutrition. In 2007, he led a six-month campaign against a cholera epidemic that ravaged the Province. In 2006, Dr. Paulo was a guest at the INMED Exploring Medical Missions Conference. |
Mani Mani
Following graduation from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, Dr. Mani trained in plastic surgery at the University of Kansas. From 1974-1995 he served as Medical Director of the Gene and Barbara Burnett Burn Center within the University of Kansas Medical Center. In this capacity, Dr. Mani shared his expertise as a consultant to create burn care programs in numerous developing nations, encouraging and guiding their ability to intervene against these devastating injuries. Dr. Mani is an honored guest faculty at the INMED International Medicine Intensive Courses and author of Burn Care And Rehabilitation. |
Viggo Olsen
Dr. Viggo Olsen, pictured here at his induction to the American College of Surgeons, served as a medical missionary to Bangladesh for 33 years. Fresh out of residency at Brooklyn's Kings County Hospital, Olsen declined a prestigious faculty position and moved his young family to Bangledesh. Amid the poverty, epidemics and natural disasters, Olsen helped found the first modern medical facility: Memorial Christian Hospital. No sooner than established, however, Bangladesh was plunged into a bloody war with Pakistan. Olsen's incredible perseverance through this crisis, and continued selfless service are documented the books: Daktar: Diplomat to Bangladesh and Daktar II: A Decade of Miracles in Bangladesh. |
Dennis & Nancy Palmer
In 1984 Dennis and Nancy Palmer left the United States to serve seven years in Cameroon, West Africa. The medical facilities were primitive, but they nevertheless cared for those suffering from malaria, dysentery, and tuberculosis. The Palmers returned in US in 1991, where Dennis taught internal medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and co-authored the popular Handbook of Medicine in Developing Countries. In 2004, the Palmers returned to Cameroon, where today Dennis leads an innovative program to prevent mother-to-newborn transmission of HIV prevention. Nancy, qualified with a Ph.D. in international studies, serves a coordinator for medical students studying at Banso Baptist Hospital. |
Scott Armistead
Scott felt a call to serve the poor in his late teens, and pursued a career in medicine for this purpose. He chose a residency at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that gave him experience in inpatient care and obstetrics. He also worked in East Africa for two months during medical school and residency. Since 1999, Scott, with his wife and children, have been working among the poor in northern Pakistan at a 50-bed hospital run by TEAM, taking a hiatus in another hospital on the Arabian peninsula when security problems in Pakistan escalated. When the massive earthquake struck Pakistan in October 2005, Scott cared for the stricken survivors. |
Mark Byler
As a senior medical student at the University of Nebraska, Mark fulfilled a life-long dream by studying for two months at Kijabi Medical Center in Kenya. Mark further augmented his skills in tropical medicine at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research in Washington, D.C. For several years Mark taught medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, while taking leaves of six months at a time to serve at the Sanyati Baptist Hospital in Zimbabwe, Africa. Today Mark, along with wife Angie and son Luke, work at Sanyati full-time, serving amid one of the highest concentration of HIV patients in the world. |
Steve Foster
Today Steve Foster is one of the most well recognized names in the country of Angola, Africa, and for good reason. Since 1975, fresh from surgery residency at Toronto's McMaster University, he has lived in this nation racked by civil war. Yet while attending to the urgent needs of those desperately sick, Dr. Foster also employed foresight in training Angolan physicians to care for their own. Simultaneously, his wife Peggy has devoted herself to care for the elderly. Today, Steve is medical director of the Lubango Evangelical Medical Center.He was recognized as recipient of the 2010 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Teasdale-Corti Humanitarian Award. |
Samuel Marx
Dr. Sam began his career as a pastor in Vancouver, British Columbia. But as the son of missionaries to Tibet, he was keenly aware of the larger world. The enormous medical needs of Central America compelled Dr. Sam to enter medical school in 1944, where he met and married Grace Hoppe. Together they started the Clinica Evangelica Morava on the northeastern coast of Honduras. Over the next 35 years they mastered indigenous languages, lead a tuberculosis treatment program, and raised five children. In 1984 the medical college of Honduras recognized Dr. Sam's life "apostolic and selfless service" to the people of their country. |
Albert Schweitzer
Born in Germany in 1875, Schweitzer has been called the greatest Christian of his time. His personal philosophy was "reverence for life." In his twenties, he studied music and theology, and became a noted philosophical author. In 1904 Schweitzer was inspired over medical missions. He studied medicine in Strassbourg, and raised money to build a hospital in Gabon, West Africa, where he moved in 1913. Over the next 30 years Schweitzer served thousands of Africans. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, and used this money to expand the hospital and leprosy center. In 1955 Queen Elizabeth II awarded Schweitzer the "Order of Merit," Britain's highest civilian honor. |