"The real tragedy of human life is not so much what men suffer, as what they miss." Thomas Carlyle
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"The real tragedy of human life is not so much what men suffer, as what they miss." Thomas Carlyle 〰️
Biography | C.V. | Bibliography | Adventures | Travels
Glenn W. Geelhoed
My name is Glenn Geelhoed—founder of Mission to Heal.
I am also a surgeon and professor at George Washington University, active in International Medical Education.
Here you can find my Biography, C.V., Bibliography, Adventures and Travels. Click on the photos throughout this page to explore the stories behind them and enjoy the journey.
Unlike Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, who cried, “Oh, the Horror!”, I prefer another response to the unknown:
“Oh, the Wonder! The Wonder!”
Try not to miss much--this is not pre-life!
Cheers!
Bibliography
There are listed medical and scientific contributions, but also historical, ethical and literary works-- and look for more forthcoming.
Biography
Glenn W. Geelhoed, MD
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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.
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Personal and professional interests have been interwoven in my career, as they are in all other professionals. The only honest answer to the question: "How are you able to carry on the activities of several simultaneous lifetimes?" is "Not very well, thank you, but I am still trying!"
There are several areas precious to each one of us that we would rather not compromise, and that has been true for me in several activities you may also see spilling over into the Adventures and Travels sections as well; but personal parts of this story that are publically available include my Family, my interests as Writer --which may include some components of my published Bibliography -- as well as my enthusiasm for Photojournalism and personal evolution in my career in Medicine and Health. You may open any of these chapters, and subsections in each of the others as well, by clicking on the highlighted text which may take you on a personal photojournalism tour. Click away!
Professor of Surgery
Professor of International Medical Education
George Washington University Medical Center
"We seek around us the wonders that lie within; there is all Africa and her prodigies within us." Sir Thomas Browne, Religion Medicine, 1568
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"We seek around us the wonders that lie within; there is all Africa and her prodigies within us." Sir Thomas Browne, Religion Medicine, 1568 〰️
Adventures
For any of you dedicated adrenalin junkies, life holds enough exhilaration to go around if you go out and seize it head on with appropriate care guiding enthusiasm. From the mountaintop to the deep sea, from the arctic to the tropical rainforest, following the rivers, deserts and coasts, watching the birds and pursuing the fish and the game, let's try out a few of these adventures in the wide world of discovery!
"The most interesting parts of a map are the blank spaces." Aldo Leopold
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"The most interesting parts of a map are the blank spaces." Aldo Leopold 〰️
Travels
A first feature many people mention about me is long-range adventure travels, often expressed as "He sure seems to be gone a lot!" True, true, and related. I have been on each continent, and often, and all of the United States in a mix of visiting professorships in the capital cities of the world, followed almost immediately, with any luck, by departures for remote interior adventures in sometimes exotic settings. Some of these travels are listed in the International Experiences of "Windows on the World". I have been lucky.
Click on International Experiences for a listing of places that have been enjoyed thus far and join in planning the next windows to be opened on the world out side your house which you know so well.
I have not deliberately set about collecting visa stamps from new nations in overstuffed passports, but in the course of my travels, enough of the map has been "notched" to qualify for something I just heard about--the "Century Club"--those elite travelers who have scored visits to one hundred or more nations. Only after I had heard of such collectors, did I look back to tally 155 countries at last count, many of which no longer exist, or are reconstituted as new ones. But, as with other achievements in life, what is past is prologue.
What is the point of logging all these kilometers and ports of call? The trip is not marked only by its destination, anymore than life is defined by death or the race by the finish line. What are you doing along the way to learn what might be helpful in understanding?
The best of travels, of course, are enlightening explorations of self, since:
"...the result of all our travels will be to arrive back where we started, and know it for the very first time."
T. S. Eliot
BON VOYAGE!