Tom Catena
Tom Catena | |
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Medical doctor, surgeon , Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Chair | |
Medical career | |
Institutions | Mother of Mercy Hospital |
Thomas Gerard Catena is an American physician who has been practising in
Early life and education
Born in
Catena graduated as the
Career
During his fourth year at Duke, Catena went on his first mission to Kenya in 1992.[2] After graduating, he completed a one-year internship in internal medicine at the Naval Medical Center San Diego in 1993 and later joined the U.S. Navy. For the next four years,[11] he served as a flight surgeon; in this capacity, he was stationed at the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia from 1994 to 1995. After his discharge from the Navy in 1997, Catena began a postgraduate residency in family medicine at Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana, while also participating in one-month medical mission trips to Guyana (1997) and Honduras (1998).[9]
When he finished his residency in 1999, Catena decided to continue volunteering with the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) and spent two and a half years as a missionary doctor at Our Lady of Lourdes Mutomo Hospital in the rural settlement of Mutomo, Kenya. From 2002 until 2007, he worked as a consultant at the private St Mary's Mission Hospital in Nairobi.[4]
Activities in Sudan
With CMMB, Catena volunteered to help the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Obeid establish the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains, which was built in 2007 by Bishop Macram Max Gassis and first launched its operations in March 2008.[9] The region has been an area of active conflict since the mid-1980s, with a short period of peace from 2002 until early 2011,[12] and Catena is the only surgeon for the surrounding population of 750,000 people.[13] The hospital's catchment area covers roughly one third of South Kordofan, equivalent in size to the entire country of Austria.[14] Patients frequently travel by foot or hitchhiking for up to a week to reach the Mother of Mercy Hospital. At any one time it has between 300 and 450 in-patients. Patients visit the hospital for ailments varying from fractures, diarrhea, thyroid disease and cancer but also an increasing number of victims of bombing attacks or malnourishment spurred on by the war.[1][12][14]
Humanitarian aid is restricted, a ban which Catena defies.
The Mother of Mercy Hospital was subject to bombings by Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets operated by the Sudanese Air Force in May 2014,[17] although at the time no one was injured.[14][1] In preparation in case of bombings the compound now has a number of foxholes where patients and staff can flee for the duration.[14]
Catena credits his
Since 2016, Catena has been serving on the selection committee for the annual Gerson L'Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Mission Service. In 2018, he was appointed chair of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, a position he holds in addition to his activities in Sudan.
Recognition
- 2024 – Theodore Roosevelt Award, National Collegiate Athletic Association[18]
- 2022 – Honorary Doctor of Science degree, Duke University[19]
- 2020 – Gerson L’Chaim Prize for "outstanding Christian medical missionary service," African Mission Healthcare[20]
- 2018 – Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA) Social Justice Award[21]
- 2017 – Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity;[22] besides receiving a grant in the sum of $100,000, Catena chose the following three organizations to share the prize's $1,000,000 award to continue their work:
- African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), USA
- Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), USA
- Aktion Canchanabury, Germany
- 2017 – Honorary Doctorate, Yerevan State Medical University[23]
- 2016 – Honorary Doctor of Medical Science degree, Brown University[24]
- 2015 – Time 100[25]
- 2015 – Gold Medal of the National Football Foundation (NFF)
Personal life
Since May 2016, Catena has been married to his wife Nasima, a nurse.[11][26] They have a son.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bartholet, Jeffrey. "Doctor in a Desperate Land". Foreign Policy. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Morton, Gordon (March 14, 2013). "Man on a Mission". Brown School of Engineering. Brown Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
- ^ "Hospital in Nuba Mountains losing nurses to INGOs in Yida". Radio Tamazuj. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
- ^ a b Knaup, Horand (April 3, 2012). "Africa's Forgotten War: The Bloody, Invisible Battle for South Kordofan". Spiegel Online International.
- ^ Ponsford, Matthew (June 1, 2017), Quit dithering, says last doctor in Sudan's Nuba mountains Reuters.
- ^ Kristof, Nicholas (June 27, 2015) How to Help Dr. Tom Catena The New York Times.
- ^ "The Nuba Mountains Doctor - Vatican News". www.vaticannews.va. January 2, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- ^ "A place to 'get your hands dirty,' says Amsterdam native serving as doctor in Sudan". The Evandelist. January 7, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Dr. Tom Catena. Sudan Relief Fund.
- ^ Lynch, Amy (October 20, 2016) Tom Catena: Man on a mission. ncaa.org
- ^ a b Walker, Knez; Louszko, Ashley and Mittal, Pavni (April 12, 2018), What it is like being the only doctor in war-torn Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. ABC News.
- ^ a b Reeves, Eric (March 9, 2013). "An interview with Dr. Tom Catena concerning the Nuba Mountains, and a humanitarian update on the region". Sudan Reeves. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
- ^ a b Ohanesian, Adriane (April 15, 2015) Tom Catena. Time magazine. The 100 most influential people. Accessed June 29, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Bartholet, Jeffrey (May 14, 2014). "Q&A: Doctor Describes How Sudanese Bombers Terrorized Hospital". National Geographic. Archived from the original on May 15, 2014.
- ^ McClenaghan, Maeve and McVeigh, Tracy (May 20, 2012), Conflict in Nuba mountains may lead to devastating epidemics, say doctors The Guardian.
- ^ a b c Kristof, Nicholas (June 27, 2015) 'He’s Jesus Christ' The New York Times.
- ^ Straziuso, Jason (May 5, 2014), US doctor: Sudan dropped 11 bombs near hospital The San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ 2024 Theodore Roosevelt Award: Dr. Tom Catena National Collegiate Athletic Association, press release of 13 December 2023.
- ^ "Citations for the Four 2022 Honorary Degree Recipients". today.duke.edu. May 8, 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
- ^ "He's been called the world's most important doctor—at least to more than a million patients".
- Catholic Medical Mission Board(CMMB).
- ^ DR. TOM CATENA – 2017 AURORA PRIZE LAUREATE. auroraprize.com
- ^ "Aurora Prize nominee Tom Catena awarded with YSMU Honorary Doctor title". armenpress.am. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
- ^ Brown awards eight honorary doctorates. news.brown.edu (May 29, 2016)
- ^ Tom Catena, MD Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB).
- ^ Transcript of CNN NEWSROOM, Aired March 28, 2018 – 02:00 ET CNN