A phrase has been coined in the western world’s culture that describes a doctor as “good.” Few medical doctors however have risen to that deserved title as much as the good Doctor Glenn Geelhoed. Described as the “real thing”, he has ventured over the entire globe administering all the “good” that mankind has to offer each other in a manner unmatched in the medical field in the past 100 years.

A medical “mission” is a journey of trained individuals prepared to serve the needy in environs that definitely do not cater to the five star hotel crowds. Dr. Geelhoed’s missions have exceeded the 220 mark.. Each of these ventures are financed in part by the “friends” of the doctor and by the doctor himself. It has been estimated that over $2,000,000 have been spent to reach the needy and touch individual lives over the last 40 years that Dr. Geelhoed has been leading teams abroad to some of the most remote parts our planet. Dedicated medical personnel in tow, established or up and coming being led and trained by a well degreed, well heeled, dedicated “Doc G”.

The adage of “teaching them to fish” instead of fishing for them is not only epitomized is Dr. Geelhoed philosophy but is the cornerstone of his entire effort. He describes it as, “ indigenizing

skills” when he begins a five year program in a selected populated village where he progressively trains “in country” medical personnel to enhance their medical skills.

Recently Dr. Geelhoed penned these words in describing his heart felt drive coupled with his love for those he has trained:

“And what do I say of those thousands of people, perhaps tens of thousands, the heroes I’ve met in places of beauty and brutality around the globe? Local healers who knew the power of a root, a leaf, a plant that Western medicine has not yet imagined; trained physicians and committed nurses, families and neighbors, pastors and strangers – each of them demonstrating that the grace of human compassion is the fountain of life and healing. I am in awe of these women and men for whom healing is never a burden, for whom day-and-night service is a passion and an apparent joy. When they speak to me of their hopes, I hear the echo of a more ancient voice whispering about “the least of these, my brethren.”

In the wake of the little I have learned and done, I see throngs of women and men whose labor, love and humility inspire me to repack a worn bag, throw another file of memories into the attic, and go again. If I appear driven, I am, in fact, called – and I hear the call in their many languages.

They are God’s flowers, roots and all, who have most nearly opened my mind to “know what God and man is.” To them, I dedicate my life.”

Glenn W. Geelhoed received his BS and AB cum laude degrees from Calvin College and his MD cum laude from the University of Michigan. Following the Harvard surgical internship and residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, and the Boston Children’s Hospital Medical Center, he served as clinical associate and senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. After completion of his chief surgical residency, he joined the full-time faculty at George Washington University as an Associate Professor of Surgery in Washington, DC in 1975. He was awarded an appointment as clinical scholar of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a member of numerous medical, surgical and international academic societies, including the Society of University Surgeons and The American College of Surgeons, and is a past president of the Washington Academy of Surgeons. He was selected the James IV Travelling Scholar of 1986, and inducted into the Academie de Chirurgie de Paris in l990.

His major clinical interests are in endocrine surgery, surgical physiology, oncology and transplantation. He has been a frequent Visiting Professor in most of the United States and on all continents, traveling with a strong interest in global health that includes the third world. He is a widely published author accredited with several books and over 500 published journal articles and chapters in books, and has a major interest in medical education in academic, professional and international organizations.

To assist in developing further volunteer health and surgical services in underserved areas of the developing world, he completed the DTMH in the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in l990, and a Masters degree in International Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, in l99l. He completed the MPH degree in Epidemiology: Health Promotion/Disease Prevention in 1993, and in 1995 additionally achieved the MA cum laude in Anthropology with special interests in Biologic and Medical Anthropology. He is currently a candidate for the Ph.D. in Human Sciences in an interdisciplinary program at George Washington University, and planning a further period of research and service in southern Africa supported by an award as Senior Fulbright Scholar, African Regional Research Program, for 1996. He has developed both Medical Anthropology and Tropical Medicine programs within the MPH programs of George Washington University, and as GW University Professor of International Medical Education is working on the development of an international health center and international medical education program.

Glenn W. Geelhoed

AB, BS, MD, DTMH, MA, MPH, MA, MPhil, ScD (honoris causae), EdD FACS

Professor of Surgery

Professor of International Medical Education

Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine

Office of the Dean, Ross Hall 741

George Washington University Medical Center

300 I Street NW

Washington, DC 20037 USA