Call of Duty Graduate lands rare military match position and starts own legacy of helping others By Sophia Pino rowing up in Ethiopia, Gabriel Gizaw, M.D. (’07), saw his uncles,
“You get to secondhand assist in the surgery, whereas in the United States,
both physicians, work under the constraints of extreme poverty and
you would be watching from behind a window,” he added.
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inadequate medical care.
In his final year of medical school, Gizaw joined the Ethiopian North
“I came to appreciate the inherent intellectual and emotional challenges
American Health Profession Association (ENAHPA). ENAHPA, founded in
involved in practicing medicine,” said Gizaw, as he debated whether he
1999, is an organization created in response to the growing need for
would follow in their footsteps.
physicians and nurses in the country.
But, at the age of 16, political strife in his native country forced Gizaw and
Ethiopia has been plagued by wars, famine, corruption and governmental
his family to move to the United States, where the dream would have to
collapse which eventually led to the exodus of a great deal of the country’s
be built from scratch. His physician uncles, Drs. Saifu and Efrem Daniel,
health professionals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO),
had to complete residency again in order to get licensed in their adopted
for Ethiopia’s 80 million inhabitants, the ratio of physicians is one per
country. Gizaw saw first-hand their determination, dedication and passion
40,000 and only one nurse per 5,000 people. In the United States, we
for medicine, and realized he had inherited the same drive.
have one physician for every 330 people and one nurse for every 110
He decided, then and there, that he would work towards the goal of one day, becoming a doctor.
people. The country’s fragile infrastructure provides little financial support toward its health care system, leading to high death rates from preventable diseases, low life expectancy, and approximately 1.5 million people
After completing high school, Gizaw attended a junior college and worked
infected with HIV/AIDS. Severe droughts and a growing population have
as an EMT to help support his family. His work as an EMT led him into a
led to food shortages and widespread malnutrition.
brief career as a respiratory therapist, before joining the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman in 1997. As a Corpsman, he was able to serve in the Navy and complete his bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from Old Dominion University. In 2001, he was honorably discharged to attend American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. He applied to
Upon completion of medical school, Gizaw worked in research and respiratory therapy at Temple University Hospital before rejoining the Navy and beginning his internal medicine residency at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va.
both the United States as well as other Caribbean medical schools but
In 2007, shortly after completing medical school, Gizaw went on his first
chose to come to AUC.
mission to the University Hospital in Addis Ababa.
“My best years in medical school were my clinical years,” he said. Gizaw
Being able to return to his homeland and help address those needs that
completed many of his clinical rotations in the United Kingdom, an experience
first drew his uncles to medicine, was a dream come true.
that, he says, gave him a great deal of confidence.
He accompanied a team of surgeons, physicians, and nurses on a mission
“In the U.K., you have a lot more hands-on experience. You do work-ups and
to perform open-heart surgeries. The team, led by Ingida Asfaw, M.D.,
IVs and get to be in the OR,” said Gizaw, who was able to assist in 41
performed nine open cardiac surgeries and one tracheostomy in a period
surgeries during his surgery rotation at Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent.
of two weeks. Asfaw, a Detroit-area cardiac surgeon and founder of ENAHPA, performed the first open-heart procedure in Ethiopia in 2003. “They initially tried to put me in an observership,” said Gizaw. He ended up assisting in creating the hospital’s makeshift ICU. “I worked as an interpreter, helped bring in and set up equipment. I was just learning the ins and outs when I landed on an idea,” he said. Gizaw noticed that there was no doctor on the ICU after hours, so he volunteered to be the overnight physician. “I would run the ICU at night, and relay any information via telephone to the doctors who had gone home for the night,” said Gizaw. The primitive setting was not without its share of challenges. Electrical problems, lack of power outlets, outdated equipment, and poor sanitation were just a few of the obstacles encountered by the team. In spite of the challenges, they remained resourceful.
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