Thread of idealism a lifeline to developing countries: Emergency physician heads global effort to teach emergency care

摘要

Ross Donaldson went to Sierra Leone as a third-year medical student to research a deadly but neglected disease and found himself running a Lassa fever ward alone. The experience, recounted in his 2009 book The Lassa Ward, was as life-altering as one might expect. It didn't divert Donaldson, MD, MPH, CTropMed, from his ambition of practicing emergency medicine. But it did transform how, where, and perhaps even why he practiced it. Now 36, Dr. Donaldson spends half the year in Los Angeles teaching and seeing patients. The other half he spends trying to bring, and nurture, the field of emergency medicine to places such as Haiti and Iraq while lending a remote hand to young associates in countries such as Libya.