Getting to Mulago, Uganda's national referral hospital.
An OB-GYN's trip from childhood to residency and beyond.
Raised by a hippie mother, altruistic step-father, and a research scholar dad, I was exposed to all the different elements of life at a young age. My mom, a homebirth Certified Nurse Midwife, swaddled me to her chest as she coached women through labor. As a little girl, I saw the innate power of a woman's body. I learned it must be honored, strengthened, understood, respected and nurtured to remain healthy. My step-father teaches through example. He encouraged his children to look beyond the superficial differences of color, sex, and status. He helped us see beauty in all things and to love unconditionally. My Dad, a research psychologist, taught me how to look critically at the world. He showed me how to construct and interpret data. Most important, he taught me solutions to problems are best discovered through research.
I was fortunate to travel extensively during my teenage years. By the time I entered medical school, I had been to twenty-six countries on five different continents. Because of my childhood experiences and my travels, after medical school, I committed to working with women and I chose an obstetrics and gynecolgy residency program in Connecticut that would support my endeavors in global health. With Danbury Hospital's assistance, I successfully created a collaboration with the national referral hospital in Uganda.
My earlier traveling experience helped, but I was overwhelmed by the scarcity of resources and the lack of trained physicians at Mulago Hospital. I watched hundreds of women and children suffer from preventable causes. I held many of them as they crossed to another world. I made it my personal goal to create a sustainable program that focuses on enhancing resident training and research in Uganda which would ultimately lead to improved healthcare for women.
An OB-GYN's trip from childhood to residency and beyond.
Raised by a hippie mother, altruistic step-father, and a research scholar dad, I was exposed to all the different elements of life at a young age. My mom, a homebirth Certified Nurse Midwife, swaddled me to her chest as she coached women through labor. As a little girl, I saw the innate power of a woman's body. I learned it must be honored, strengthened, understood, respected and nurtured to remain healthy. My step-father teaches through example. He encouraged his children to look beyond the superficial differences of color, sex, and status. He helped us see beauty in all things and to love unconditionally. My Dad, a research psychologist, taught me how to look critically at the world. He showed me how to construct and interpret data. Most important, he taught me solutions to problems are best discovered through research.
I was fortunate to travel extensively during my teenage years. By the time I entered medical school, I had been to twenty-six countries on five different continents. Because of my childhood experiences and my travels, after medical school, I committed to working with women and I chose an obstetrics and gynecolgy residency program in Connecticut that would support my endeavors in global health. With Danbury Hospital's assistance, I successfully created a collaboration with the national referral hospital in Uganda.
My earlier traveling experience helped, but I was overwhelmed by the scarcity of resources and the lack of trained physicians at Mulago Hospital. I watched hundreds of women and children suffer from preventable causes. I held many of them as they crossed to another world. I made it my personal goal to create a sustainable program that focuses on enhancing resident training and research in Uganda which would ultimately lead to improved healthcare for women.