Davison Scholars Abroad
by Marty Fisher
Working in often desperate conditions, Duke Medical students provide care to people
from Kenya to Haiti with support from The Medical Annual Fund and Davison Club.
Bill Foster, MD'98, HS'99, set out to be a scientist. As an undergraduate, he majored
in physics at the California Institute of Technology. He went to Harvard for his masters
and PhD in physics; he spent summers conducting research on X-ray and laser technology.
Somehow, it wasn't enough. "As you get a little older, you start to think about
what your values are," says Foster. "...I didn't want to just be a
scientist."
He began doing hospital volunteer work through his church in Boston and worked as a
postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Experimental Medicine at Brigham and Women's
Hospital. At age 30, he decided to go for a fourth degree-this time in medicine at Duke.
He met a number of people at Duke whose careers combined research, surgery, and
volunteer medical missionary work. One of his mentors, Craig Fowler, a Duke assistant
professor of ophthalmology who regularly volunteers as an eye surgeon in China and other
countries, particularly impressed him. "He really brought it all together well-the
intellectual stimulation of research, helping people through surgery, and being able to
apply your skill abroad," says Foster. "That's the kind of career I want."
The
Davison Travel Award at Duke gave Foster and four other fourth-year medical students the
opportunity to experience life and medicine in another culture. Founded in 1962, the
program is supported by gifts to the Medical Annual Fund and Davison Club. Over the years
students have studied in 21 different countries. Other 1998 awardees were Margaret Boozer,
Kelly Dooley, and Ashvin Pande, all of whom went to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center
in Moshi, Tanzania, and Connette McMahon, who went to a medical mission center in Haiti.
Unlike the other students, whose trips were arranged through the Department of Medicine,
Foster made his own arrangements to go to Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania.
A
deeply religious person who is committed to a life of service, Foster chose Bugando
because of the strong Christian community there. "Every morning, I was awakened by
the Muslim call to prayer. The Christian churches were overflowing with people... services
were conducted in Swahili," he says. He was the only non-African student at Bugando,
but he made friends and began learning to converse in Swahili.
Mwanza is Tanzania's second largest city, and Bugando Hospital is a referral center for
more than seven million people. The people of Tanzania number over 30 million, and their
average income is only $260 a year. The life expectancy is 52 years. Bugando hospital sits
on a hilltop above Lake Victoria with beautiful views of the rocky lake on all sides. The
equipment is primitive-the hospital has no CT scanner, only an old x-ray machine. Foster
saw rampant AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, schistosomaisis, bacterial meningitis, and
cancer. Injuries and illnesses were advanced and very often fatal by the time people made
it to Bugando. Many patients bore the marks of tribal healers-train-track shaped tattoos
on the chest to treat asthma and ring-shaped second degree burns made by applying the
bottom of a fire-hot glass jar to the chest to treat heartburn.
During the short time he had in Tanzania, Foster was determined to make a difference in
some way. He discovered that chloramphenicol, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial
meningitis, was not stocked in the hospital. When patients presented with bacterial
meningitis, it was left to their families to travel into the city to purchase the
medicine. Patients who had no family routinely missed getting the medicine that would have
saved their lives. Foster brought this to the attention of his missionary hosts, and
together they stocked the hospital with a supply of chloramphenicol. He also participated
in developing a pre-operative checklist to train resident physicians to evaluate patients'
ability to undergo surgery before they reached the operating table.
After
his experience in Tanzania, Foster is more convinced than ever that he will volunteer as a
medical missionary. He received his Duke medical degree at the end of his third year and
is currently completing his surgical internship. In 2000, he will go to Barnes Hospital
and Washington University for a three-year residency in ophthalmology. As soon as he is
able, he plans to begin doing mission work. He feels he can do the greatest good by
training native physicians in newer surgical procedures so that they can help their own
people. Only by helping people to help themselves, he believes, will Tanzania and other
Third World countries begin to build health systems that address their needs and fit
within their culture.
"The experience provided by alumni and friends who gave to the MAF and the DC gave
me the opportunity to witness the incredible poverty and disease of the Third World. It
also gave me the chance to meet people who have their lives focused on helping
others," says Foster. "It reinforced my commitment to help."
