CMDA Today - Summer 2024

TOUCHING HANDS, CONNECTING HEARTS

Entrusted with the Gospel

“My Masters in Bioethics from TEDS gave me critical knowledge that enabled me to do hundreds of media interviews each year, train healthcare professionals, write for publications, and affect public policy decisions at the state and federal levels.”

DR.

DAVID STEVENS ’02

The Master of Arts in Bioethics

How should we think about moral and ethical issues related to healthcare, scientific research, and emerging technology? The Master of Arts in Bioethics from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) will provide you with the ethical and theological understanding you need to approach these questions with skill and care. Our program will equip you to work in healthcare, science, law, advocacy, clergy, and more.

• We offer the MA in Bioethics in several delivery formats and it is designed to be flexible with busy professionals in mind.

• Complete the program in person or online (with one or two weeklong summer courses).

Why Earn a Master of Arts in Bioethics at TEDS?

At TEDS, you’ll not only study bioethics from a rigorous academic perspective but also explore how Christian faith informs and influences the field. We’ll give you the framework and tools to understand and navigate these issues with clarity and compassion.

Get access to The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD), Trinity’s world-class Christian bioethics center

The Center engages in research and cultural-engagement initiatives, and is the only center focused on Bioethics among Evangelical academic institutions. As a student, you’ll be able to attend CBHD events, including their annual conference.

Developing a CMDA Community Chapter

Ipraise God for CMDA where I have developed great friends and wonderful mentors through the years. I have met strong people of faith who have challenged me to be more like Christ. I love these verses from Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Of course, we are to do this with our local body of believers at church. However, CMDA offers an avenue to encourage likeminded healthcare professionals to grow in Christ and to advance God’s kingdom together. I strongly urge all Christian healthcare professionals to get involved with CMDA, because what we accomplish together will usually have a much greater and wider impact than what we do individually.

CMDA offers us individual opportunities to be educated, equipped and encouraged so we may then do the same for other healthcare professionals and students. That’s why our local CMDA Fresno Community Chapter meets monthly for fellowship, teaching and service projects. We typically have a speaker every other month rotating with a fellowship family gathering. We always include spouses of healthcare professionals at all our meetings. We plan one to two domestic medical mission outreaches on a Saturday modeled after the Global Health Outreach (GHO) model with up to 50 CMDA volunteers. This includes up to 10 dental mobile operatories set up serving the poor who have little access to dental care. We lead one international trip with GHO per year, offering another avenue to serve God with your skills and training. After a while, your CMDA chapter becomes family...like a band of brothers and sisters serving the Lord together. So much so our sisters in Fresno formed a Women Physicians and Dentists in Christ ( WPDC) group that meets quarterly and a Side By Side chapter that meets quarterly.

I encourage everyone to take advantage of the CMDA resources of education, counseling and services so they may be able to encourage and disciple others to do the same. If you have a medical school or residency program in your area, please reach out to them. They are the future of CMDA, and we are blessed to mentor and help train them. I personally proctor medical students of all faiths and am open with my faith. I pray for them to see Christ in me and for them to come to a personal or greater knowledge of God.

Soon we will be having a baccalaureate for graduating Christian medical students, sending them off to residency with gifts and prayers. Then, early in the fall we will have a welcome breakfast for all new medical students who want to know more about Christ

and CMDA. It’s a joy and blessing to see growth and the pursuit of God’s will in these students.

I’m excited to see CMDA grow nationally and better represent the body of believers in healthcare training and residency, which is increasingly ethnically diverse. However, with growth, there are often growth pains. We should become unified such that we are a light to the world, drawing all men to Christ. Jesus prays this in John 17:20-25, “that we be one as the Father and He are one so that we be brought to complete unity and the world will know Jesus is for real...sent by the Father” (my paraphrase).

One of my favorite things to do on our international mission trips is to worship in a different language with our national faith partners. To me, it’s a slice of heaven. I look forward to the day of Jesus’ return when we are united with Him and to each other. Revelation 5 speaks of persons from every tribe, language, people and nation coming together to worship the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:12).

Let’s take advantage of that here on earth while we can. Reach out to your brothers and sisters who are from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds and have fellowship with them as brothers and sisters. The CMDA National Convention is also an opportunity to meet and be with people from all walks of life. We just enjoyed a successful National Convention in Black Mountain, North Carolina. We hope you are able to make it to the 2025 CMDA National Convention in St. Charles, Missouri.

Join or start a CMDA chapter in your community. We did so ourselves some 30 years ago with three couples. Now, we have more than 400 healthcare professionals and their spouses on our mailing list.

George Gonzalez, MD, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and has practiced for over 30 years in Fresno and Clovis, California. Dr. Gonzalez has served as the medical director of Pregnancy Care Center of Fresno for 20 years. He has been the acting president of the local CMDA Fresno/Clovis Chapter for more than 27 years. He is a founding member of Medical Ministries International (MMI), serving 17 years on the MMI Board. Dr. Gonzalez has been the team leader for over 30 international mission trips and 55 local mission outreaches in the Central Valley of California.

George C. Gonzalez, MD

EDITOR

Rebeka Honeycutt

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Gregg Albers, MD

John Crouch, MD

Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD

Curtis E. Harris, MD, JD

Van Haywood, DMD

Rebecca Klint-Townsend, MD

Debby Read, RN AD SALES 423-844-1000 DESIGN

Ahaa! Design + Production PRINTING Pulp

CMDA is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).

CMDA Today™, registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Summer 2024, Volume LV, No. 2. Printed in the United States of America. Published four times each year by the Christian Medical & Dental Associations® at 2604 Highway 421, Bristol, TN 37620. Copyright© 2024, Christian Medical & Dental Associations®. All Rights Reserved. Distributed free to CMDA members. Non-doctors (US) are welcome to subscribe at a rate of $35 per year ($40 per year, international). Standard presort postage paid at Bristol, Tennessee.

Undesignated Scripture references are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Other versions are noted in the text.

CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS

P.O. Box 7500, Bristo l, TN 37621 888-230-2637

main@cmda.org•www.cmda.org

If you are interested in submitting articles to be considered for publication, visit www.cmda.org/publications for submission guidelines and details. Articles and letters published represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Acceptance of paid advertising from any source does not necessarily imply the endorsement of a particular program, product or service by CMDA. Any technical information, advice or instruction provided in this publication is for the benefit of our readers, without any guarantee with respect to results they may experience with regard to the same. Implementation of the same is the decision of the reader and at his or her own risk. CMDA cannot be responsible for any untoward results experienced as a result of following or attempting to follow said information, advice or instruction. Organizational financial records, Board of Trustees meeting minutes and House of Representatives meeting minutes are available upon request.

SaraBowen,MD,FAAP

How lasting friendships are made through CMDA Preparing Our Students and Residents to Stand Strong

JeffreyBarrows,DO,MA (Ethics)

Equipping those in training to stand against the pressure to adopt unbiblical positions

Finishing Well: Preparing for Retirement

Sisterhood in Strength: Celebrating 30 Years of WPDC

LeslieWalker,MD;withAmy Givler,MD;AutumnDawn Galbreath,MD;andSarah Rahkola,MD How to navigate retirement with

Discussing societal decay from foundational values not rooted in Scripture A look at WPDC’s past and present ministry success

SteveSartori,MD The Dr. John Patrick Bioethics Column Why Do We Shy Away from Sin and Judgment?

JohnPatrick,MD

REGIONAL MINISTRIES

Connecting you with other Christ-followers to help better motivate, equip, disciple and serve within your community

Western Region: Wes Ehrhart, MA • 6204 Green Top Way • Orangevale, CA 95662 • 916-716-7826 • wes.ehrhart@cmda.org

Midwest Region: Connor Ham, MA • 2435 Lincoln Avenue • Cincinnati, OH 45231 • 419-789-3933 • connor.ham@cmda.org

Northeast Region: Tom Grosh, DMin • 1844 Cloverleaf Road • Mount Joy, PA 17552 • 609-502-2078 • northeast@cmda.org

Southern Region: Grant Hewitt, MDiv • P.O. Box 7500 • Bristol, TN 37621 • 402-677-3252 • south@cmda.org

MEMBER NEWS

In Memoriam

Our hearts are with the family members of the following CMDA members who have passed in recent months. We thank them for their support of CMDA and their service to Christ.

• Jerry Dixon, MD – Benton, Arkansas Member since 1995

• Deborah C. Flint-Daniel, MD – Nome, Alaska Member since 1991

• Robert C. Hall, MD – Fort Wayne, Indiana Member since 1954

• Steven Lamberson, MD – Marshfield, Wisconsin Member since 1981

• John P. Plankeel, MD – Mystic, Connecticut Member since 1993

• William R. Stevenson, MD – Washington, Illinois Member since 1960

• David A. Swanson, MD – Edina, Minnesota Former Trustee and Member of House of Representatives Member since 1965

Memoriam and Honorarium Gifts

Gifts received January through March 2024

• Ms. Deanna J. West in memory of Dr. Tom West

• Dr. and Mrs. Marvin R. Jewell, Jr. in memory of Dr. Gerald Swim

• Dr. Tina M. Slusher in memory of Jim L. Whitmer

• Nancy Blind in memory of Eugene and Gerry Abbott

• Gary & Sandra Wegenke in memory of Dr. Tom West

• Dr. J. Harold Mohler in memory of Doris A. Mohler

For more information about honorarium and memoriam gifts, please contact stewardship@cmda.org.

COMMUNITY

New MEI Assistant Director

CMDA is excited to introduce Dr. Julie Rosá as the new Assistant Director of Medical Education International (MEI). She recently received a master’s in international medicine from the Institute of International Medicine in addition to her previous experience as a full spectrum family medicine physician. Dr. Julie’s (as she has been affectionately called her entire professional life) work has focused on the active practice of medicine focusing on female and pediatric patients in varied practice locations; mentoring the next generation of students clinically and personally; lastly and most recently, intentionally loving on Arabic speaking internationals. She is also passionate about introducing others to activities that stretch their worldview using short-term trips, speaking engagements and outdoor adventure. Currently, she and her husband have relocated back from the rolling sand dunes of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates to the rolling hills of northeast Kansas.

New Vice President of Communications and Events

CMDA is excited to introduce Mandi Morrin as Vice President of Communications and Events, where she will continue to lead the Communications department as well as oversee the development and execution of the CMDA National Convention each year. Mandi joined CMDA in 2011 as Editor/Associate Publisher, and in October 2020 she became the Director of Communications. Mandi is instrumental in the publication of CMDA Today and CMDA Matters, as well as the design and production of a variety of other resources. She ensures the voice of CMDA is consistent and accurate throughout all CMDA ministry written works from newsletters to brochures to emails. She has been a key team member of the Advocacy team, fielding member queries and writing press releases to issues as events happen. Mandi’s passion for CMDA is evident through the work she produces and the care and concern she has for colleagues. Her passions extend to other facets as well, including leading worship in her church, sharing joy through homemade baked goods and spending time with her husband Chad and their dog Clyde.

Ministry

New Director of Human Resources and Member Experience

Nurses Christian Fellowship Membership Discount

CMDA is excited to introduce Lindsay Hawkins as Director of Human Resources and Member Experience. Lindsay joined CMDA’s Member Services department in 2018, and she quickly became integral in continuing education efforts, member services and membership advancement. In 2021, she was named Membership Advancement Manager to oversee efforts to recruit and retain members. Her passion for people led her to take on the role of Human Resources Manager in 2022, where her responsibilities included recruitment and staffing, new employee orientation, benefits administration, improving HR software and systems, employee recognition programs and more. In this new role, Lindsay will continue overseeing the Human Resources function while also leading efforts to attract and retain CMDA members. Lindsay brings a wealth of membership knowledge and creativity to this new role. She currently resides in Piney Flats, Tennessee with her husband Brian and their three children.

Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) now offers a discount on membership dues for members of both organizations. NCF offers a 30 percent discount for CMDA members when joining for the first time or renewing their annual membership. To join NCF at 30 percent off, visit ncf-join.org and use the code CMDA. This code can also be applied to gift memberships. Plus, CMDA now offers a membership discount to NCF members who wish to join CMDA for the first time or are renewing their annual membership. To join, visit cmda.org/ join and check the applicable box at the end of the application indicating NCF membership to receive a 50 percent discount on annual dues.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Convergence Conference: Critical Conversations on Addiction

Healthcare and ministry professionals find themselves on the frontlines grappling with the complex landscape of addiction. Challenging discourses surrounding addiction shed light on the need for open engagement. CMDA and Dallas Theological Seminary cordially invite you to join us for this virtual conference on September 19-21, 2024 as we confront the intersections of addressing addiction from the theological and healthcare communities. We aim to delve into the medical and spiritual dimensions of caring for those struggling with addiction, crafting a comprehensive approach to aid those navigating various forms of dependency.

This journey toward wellness necessitates meaningful collaboration between caregivers, tending to body and soul. Attendees can anticipate a dynamic and enlightening conversation, fostering a holistic understanding of addiction that transcends disciplinary boundaries. We are excited to facilitate this crucial dialogue and encourage you to seize this opportunity to engage virtually in this pertinent and practical conversation.

For more information and to register, visit cmda.org/events. Don’t miss out on this transformative experience!

Voice of CMDA Media Training

CMDA is increasingly called on by the national media to give perspective on topics like abortion, transgender, assisted suicide and more. From congressional testimony to network television, God continues to open doors for CMDA to amplify the voice of Christian healthcare professionals on the critical life issues of our day. If you are interested, we encourage you to attend the upcoming Voice of CMDA Media Training on August 9-10, 2024. This two-day training is designed to teach you how to use the media as an educational tool and to sharpen skills as a CMDA media representative. We will use real-life examples to share a proven methodology that works in the most hostile situations. Plus, we will explore how advocacy and media work hand-in-hand together and how to prepare to use your media skills to testify in your state legislature. Participation is limited to 12 attendees in order to provide one-on-one training, so visit cmda.org/events now to reserve your space.

Upcoming Events

Dates and locations are subject to change. For a full list of upcoming CMDA events, visit cmda.org/events.

Voice of CMDA Media Training

August 9-10, 2024 • Bristol, Tennessee

Mentoring With a Coach Approach

August 23-24, 2024 • Virtual

WPDC 2024 Annual Conference

September 5-8, 2024 • Branson, Missouri

The Convergence Conference

September 19-21, 2024 • Virtual Greece Tour – In the Footsteps of Paul

September 21-27, 2024 • Greece

Great Commission Dental Conference

October 4-5, 2024 • Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

Marriage Enrichment Weekend

October 4-6, 2024 • Grand Rapids, Michigan

Italy Tour – Following Paul to Rome

October 5-15, 2024 • Italy

CMDA Northeast Regional Retreat

October 25-27, 2024 • North East, Maryland

Mentoring With a Coach Approach

October 30-31, 2024 • Virtual

Pre-field Orientation for New Healthcare Missionaries

November 4-7, 2024 • Louisville, Kentucky

Global Missions Health Conference (GMHC)

November 7-9, 2024 • Louisville, Kentucky

RESOURCES

Opioid Learning Center Course

CMDA is excited to announce a new opioid and substance use disorder and treatment course now available in the CMDA Learning Center. The 2023 MATE Act requires prescribers to complete at least eight hours of continuing education on substance use disorder assessment and treatment before their new DEA renewal.

This new course in the Learning Center includes four modules that satisfy this requirement for most U.S.-based prescribers! Plus, it is a one-of-a-kind, whole-person addiction course, which integrates faith and science in approaching and treating addiction. And even better, it is FREE for CMDA members! For more information, visit cmda.org/learning.

The Voice of Advocacy Podcast

As Christians in healthcare, we glorify God by serving as a voice for the vulnerable. CMDA Advocacy is pleased to introduce The Voice of Advocacy. This monthly podcast is hosted by Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy Jeff Barrows, DO, MA (Ethics), and it will feature members of the Advocacy team as well as special guests. Listen to learn more about Advocacy’s grassroots efforts at the state and federal level, legal and legislative victories and how CMDA members can be involved in achieving justice for the vulnerable. To listen to the latest episode, visit cmda.org/advocacy.

Legal Assistance for CMDA Members

As a result of a partnership between CMDA and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), we are now offering free legal consultations for CMDA members who may be experiencing conscience freedom issues in the workplace. Exclusively available to CMDA members, this program is designed to serve members who feel they are being discriminated against in the workplace due to their firmly held moral and religious beliefs. We believe conscience freedoms have profound ethical and religious importance within the healthcare profession, and we encourage colleagues, institutions and governments to respect these freedoms.

If you feel your conscience freedoms are at risk, please visit cmda.org/legal.

Ministry News

CMDA 2024 Member Awards

2024 Educator of the Year Award

Dr. Van B. Haywood

2024 Missionaries of the Year Award

Dr. Brad and Naomi Quist

Dr. Van Haywood earned his DMD from the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry. Upon graduation, he taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). After one and a half years of teaching, he returned to Georgia to start a solo private dental practice, where he practiced for seven years, during which he met his wife, Angie. During his time in private practice, Van helped start a Christian group for students and was later involved in the UNC CMDA group. While teaching at the Dental College of Georgia, he served as a faculty advisor for a CMDA group, which he continued to do for the next 30 years. In 1989, he wrote the first article in the world on tray bleaching, which launched his speaking career. Since then, he has completed more than 145 publications on the tray bleaching technique and the topic of bleaching and esthetics, plus he has lectured in over 30 countries and 30 states. His book titled Tooth Whitening: Indications and Outcomes of Nightguard Vital Bleaching was published in 2007. Since 2001, he has been listed every year in the “Top Leaders in Continuing Education” for the U.S. by Dental Products Report. Dr. Haywood and Angie participated multiple times in the CMDA continuing education conferences in Greece and Thailand. When COVID prevented CMDA from hosting the conference, he created an online option for dentists, posting more than 40 hours of lectures. Van retired from full-time teaching in December 2022 as Professor Emeritus. In 2023, he was named among the top 2 percent most-cited scientists in the world. Van and Angie recently celebrated 45 years of marriage and have three grown, married children and five grandchildren.

LEARN MORE

Dr. Brad and Naomi Quist sensed a call to missions during their time at Calvin University, where they met. Brad graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine, and their preparation for the mission field included Brad being a U.S. Navy doctor in Florida, Cuba and Guam. In 1996, Brad and Naomi moved with their two children, Nate and Rachel, to serve with Reach Beyond, to Shell, Ecuador. Brad served as a physician and the coordinator for medical residency training at Hospital Vozandes del Oriente. Brad and Naomi decided to transfer to the Hospital Vozandes in Quito in 2005 when their children needed to attend the Alliance Academy High School. He began by serving as a director of an outlying clinic. He soon progressed through numerous positions until finally rising to the level of healthcare division director of Latin America for Reach Beyond. In 2012, Brad and Naomi moved to the other side of the world to expand the work of Reach Beyond into Central Asia. Brad began as the director of a nongovernmental organization, then God opened up an opportunity in 2016 to assemble a staff of local believers to establish a Christian family medicine clinic in the capital city. From the beginning, the clinic served as a rotation site for family medicine residents from the local medical schools. In 2023, a second clinic opened in the south of the country, and there are plans to open future clinics in neighboring Central Asian countries. They returned to the United States and officially retired as missionaries in September 2023.

The following awards were presented at this year’s National Convention. These articles are excerpted from the actual award citations which can be viewed at cmda.org/awards.

▲ Dr. Van and Mrs. Angie Haywood with CMDA President George Gonzalez, MD (left), after receiving the 2024 Educator of the Year Award.

▲ CMDA President George Gonzalez, MD (right), presented the 2024 Missionaries of the Year Award to Dr. Brad and Mrs. Naomi Quist.

CMDA 2024 Member Awards

2024 President’s Heritage Award

Luke Goodrich

2024 Servant of Christ Award

Drs. Gloria and Paul Halverson

Luke Goodrich is Vice President and senior counsel at Becket, where he represents religious organizations and individuals in religious liberty disputes in courts across the country, including in the United States Supreme Court. He is also the award-winning author of Free to Believe: The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America. Luke is an instrumental figure in protecting the conscience freedoms of Christians in healthcare, specifically on behalf of CMDA members around the country. All of us within CMDA owe him an immense debt of gratitude for his guidance, his legal expertise, his confidence and his endurance in helping CMDA fight what’s known as the federal government’s Transgender Mandate. In Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra, CMDA joined a group of religious hospitals and nine states to stand against this controversial mandate, which threatens religious doctors and hospitals with penalties unless they perform transgender transitions and abortions in violation of their conscience and best medical judgment. The lawsuit began in 2016, and we rejoiced with Luke and Becket in a final victory in 2022, when a federal appeals court unanimously affirmed the religious freedom right of CMDA members to avoid participating in gender transitions and abortions. This court-ordered protection is for all of CMDA’s members, both current and future. In a recent interview on the CMDA Matters podcast, Luke said this about his work with Becket, “We’re not worried about the future of religious freedom; we’re not in fear. We’re in a place of joyful confidence, because we know we serve a God who’s already won the victory.”

Drs. Gloria and Paul Halverson met while attending Macalester College and were married one week after graduation at the Marquette School of Medicine, although they graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin after the school changed its name during their tenure on campus. She was a trailblazer for other women, becoming the first woman ever accepted into the OB/Gyn residency program at the Medical College of Wisconsin, while Paul pursued internal medicine and then rheumatology. During residency, Gloria and Paul became truly born-again Christians, leading them to become active in Elmbrook Church. Paul spent the entirety of his career at the Medical College of Wisconsin. After they welcomed children Megan and Timothy, Gloria moved to private practice and remained until 2001, when she returned to the Medical College of Wisconsin and became a full-time professor. It was during this same period in the early 2000s that Gloria and Paul became more deeply involved with CMDA. They began serving with CMDA’s continuing education conference for overseas healthcare missionaries and participated in mission trips. They worked through CMDA’s Medical Education International and served on trips with Global Health Outreach. In addition, Gloria became actively engaged in Women Physicians and Dentists in Christ, plus she served on the CMDA Ethics Committee and the Commission on Human Trafficking. Gloria also became a member of CMDA’s Board of Trustees, serving two terms. She served as President of CMDA from 2019 to 2021. They continue to serve as leaders within their local CMDA community, and Paul serves on CMDA’s House of Representatives. They are both Professor Emeritus from the Medical College of Wisconsin. In their own words, “The real fullness of life has been our relationship with our Lord and Savior….”

▲ Luke Goodrich received the 2024 President’s Heritage Award.

▲ Drs. Gloria and Paul Halverson were awarded the 2024 Servant of Christ Award by CMDA President George Gonzalez, MD (left).

March 2020. Like other events in history, I know most of us can remember where we were, how we felt and what we were doing when the world shut down. For me, my life was full of anxiety. I remember sitting in my office at work and receiving the email that my son’s school would be closed for two weeks. I remember peeking into my colleague’s office to ask him what he thought of the news facing us as healthcare professionals. I remember texting my husband, also a healthcare professional, asking what his workplace would be doing to keep him safe. Uncertainty of what lay ahead, fear of contracting COVID and bringing it home to my family, sadness over a lost school year for my then first-grader and trepidation of what would be required of me as a pediatrician and of my husband as a psychiatrist brought me to my knees.

I happened to be scrolling through Facebook late one evening when a post from CMDA caught my eye. It was an advertisement for a Zoom meeting, entitled “Courage in the Crisis: CMDA Connection Room.” The Zoom meeting had already been meeting for a week or so when I hesitantly clicked on the then unfamiliar “Join Meeting” link and popped into a room comprised of Dr. Steve Sartori, Rev. Ken Jones and Dr. Ann Tsen. I quickly exited; this could not be for me. I thought, “No one will want to hear of my anxious heart and certainly no one else is as discouraged or worried as I am.” I took a deep breath and pushed myself to click that button again. I am forever grateful I did. Soon, the room filled with fellow healthcare professionals from across the globe. Wearied and worried faces assured me I was not alone.

and into early June, a few faithful Zoom buddies continued to join. These times of connection and community had become central to my own well-being through the pandemic.

The connection room continued to meet every Thursday evening. The session would open with a general question posed by one of the leaders from CMDA’s Center for Well-Being. Then, individuals shared their answers while leaders shared their wisdom. Week after week, I eagerly looked forward to this time of connection with fellow believers who were also healthcare professionals; these weekly “resilience rounds” were life-giving. I started to recognize familiar faces and would message people in the Zoom chat box to say hello again. I began to learn their names, their prayer requests and their hearts for the Lord. As the weeks wore on, our numbers slowly dwindled. By late May

On our last scheduled meeting one June evening, I had been out for a bike ride with my son; we were enjoying the fresh air, and it was nearing our 8 p.m. start time. I left him at our neighbor’s house and raced home, out of breath to log on to our final Zoom meeting. With tears in our eyes, we each shared what the last several weeks meant to us and how we had benefitted from our time together. We were literally hundreds and thousands of miles apart from one other; yet, we were joined closely under the common connection of the Lord. As we closed out the final meeting, we each reached our hands out, palms facing the screen to “touch” across the miles and seal our bond.

During the final meeting, a few of us mentioned we were interested in continuing to meet. Through the darkness of those early pandemic days, I had come to crave the connection forged,

relationships formed and encouragement gained each week. CMDA’s connection room was truly an oasis in numerous ways. We started small by exchanging emails and cell phone numbers hoping to set up a time to meet. Eventually, we set up our first meeting, another Zoom call on July 2, 2020. I eagerly clicked on the Zoom link that evening; I am forever grateful I did. Some of my closest (yet farthest geographically) friendships were born from this meeting. Jenny Brown, MD, a child abuse pediatrician from Franklin, North Carolina; Gloria Halverson, MD, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Priscilla Wacaster, MD, a family medicine physician from Hot Springs, Arkansas; and myself, a pediatrician from Lititz, Pennsylvania, formed an unbreakable bond built on our faith and common link in healthcare. While we span decades from our 40s to 70s, work in various specialties, sport an interesting array of personalities and live hundreds of miles from each other, we continue to grow closer together and invest in one another’s lives.

Following our initial meeting in July 2020, we have continued meeting every Thursday evening. I crave this time. Sure, we have skipped a week here and there for holidays, vacations, work commitments and family emergencies, but we always pick right back up without missing a beat. We text several times throughout the week to check in with each other and to share prayer requests, praises, musings about books read, funny moments and life happenings. They know my kids, my husband and my pets. We are each other’s first text for support and prayer when something pops up during the week.

You are likely wondering what we do each week when we meet. We do spend a good deal of our time connecting; we catch up on our weeks, family events and prayer needs. We have helped each other navigate various life events including significant health battles, loss of loved ones, job changes and work stresses. Also, we discuss the current book we are reading. We have (slowly) worked our way through the following book list, usually discussing one or two chapters a week and sharing the chapter’s impact on us. Notably, Elizabeth Sherrill, the author of All the Way to Heaven, spoke via a recorded interview at the

Women Physicians & Dentists in Christ (WPDC) annual conference in September 2021. I’m quite certain I would not have read these books on my own. Having the time to discuss and take a deep dive into biblically based non-fiction writing has been transformative for each of us.

• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

• One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp with study guide

• All the Way to Heaven by Elizabeth Sherrill

• Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa TerKeurst with study guide

• Sacred Rest by Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD

• Becoming Elizabeth Elliott by Ellen Vaughn

• The Beauty Chasers by Timothy Willard

• Contentment by Dr. Richard Swenson

• The Cycle of Grace by Trevor Hudson and Jerry Haas with videos

• Joy of Every Longing Heart Advent 2022 by She Reads Truth

• Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung

• The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg

• Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning

• Pointing to the Promise: An Advent Study Guide by Proverbs 31 Ministries

• Unoffendable by Brant Hansen

As we meet week after week, we close our one-hour meetings with our palms outstretched, facing the screen just as we closed the final CMDA connection room meeting all those months ago. It is our sign of love and support, often sent as an open hand emoji to each other in texts. While we grew closer together, we talked of the day when we would be able to meet in person; though we knew each other quite well, none of us had met in person.

Spurred by my new connection with fellow women physicians, I signed up to attend the WPDC annual conference

in Grand Rapids, Michigan in September 2021. Gloria attended as well, but Priscilla and Jenny were not able to accompany us. We hugged for the first time, with tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces. The conference was amazing and offered additional connection with fellow women physicians and dentists in Christ (shameless plug to attend the WPDC 2024 Annual Conference in Branson, Missouri!). We started making plans to attend the CMDA National Convention in April 2022, but once again only Gloria and I were able to participate. However, finally in April 2023, we each descended upon the Cincinnati, Ohio area for the CMDA National Convention. After three years, we were able to join hands and hearts in the same location. There were tears, smiles, laughs and memories made. It was a highlight of 2023 for each of us. We recorded a short testimony for CMDA Matters to tell our story. Our hands, palms outstretched now touched for the first time.

Gloria, Priscilla and Jenny are my dear friends. God blessed me immensely with

these wonderful women during a dark time. We have joined hearts and hands across the miles. Connections with fellow believers and healthcare professionals are so important for all of us. These women have been my encouragers, my sounding boards, my prayer partners; they are my sisters in Christ.

As my dear friend Jenny said in a text to us recently:

“I am thanking God for you guys this morning! I am walking on my treadmill, thanking the Lord for you all, marveling at the beauty outside my window, and thinking about the goodness of God who connected us! Without our meetings, I don’t think I’d have read most, if any, of those books which are now flagstones on my path. I’m so much richer within for having studied these things with a tribe of people who are my dear sisters. All of us have very different perspectives and personalities. All of us are walking the same direction with Jesus, bringing different gifts to the journey, and providing accountability in love for what we’ve learned. Walking along with you guys has been a tremendous addition, a multiplication on a thousand levels, and I’m so grateful for all of you!”

I think Jenny sums it up quite well. Community and connection in the Lord are central to our well-being and thriving now and always. I was reminded of the following Scripture verses during a recent sermon at my home church while I was writing this article. They both reflect the importance of prayer with and for each other:

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your

heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:15-23).

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).

Finally, my friend Priscilla sent me this Scripture as she reflected on our time together since the start of the pandemic. The Lord provides what we need and knows how best to provide for each of us. He is good!

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).

Sara Bowen, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician at Roseville Pediatrics, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is a member of CMDA, Women Physicians & Dentists in Christ, American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. She received her bachelor of science in biology from Juniata College in 2001 and her MD from the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine in 2005. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Dayton Children’s Medical Center, Boonshoft School of Medicine in 2008. Sara has been married for 19 years to her husband Michael (a psychiatrist), whom she met in medical school through CMDA. She is a proud mom to Joel, 11 years old, and Aaron, five years old.

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While the Center for Well Being’s connection room closed in June 2020, they continue to provide a strong resource for all healthcare professionals through conferences, individual coaching, coaching courses and support. To learn more, visit cmda.org/wellbeing

Preparing Our Students and Residents to STRONG STAND

JeffreyBarrows,DO,MA(Ethics)

In 1972, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago found approximately 90 percent of Americans self-identified as Christians in their General Social Survey.1 Over the next several decades, the percentage of Americans self-identifying as Christians has steadily dropped to the point that the Pew Research Center estimates similar surveys conducted in 2020 will find 64 percent of Americans identifying as Christian.2 Further projections reveal that if present trends continue, by 2070, the percentage of Americans identifying as Christian will lie between 35 percent to 54 percent. With each passing decade, Christianity is closer to becoming a minority faith in America.

One age group in which the disaffiliation rate is exceptionally high includes those under 30. This is of particular concern to us at CMDA, because this age group represents our future membership and also the future of healthcare in America. Among the multitude of reasons young people are abandoning the Christian faith is the culture’s increasing emphasis and promotion of individual autonomy over obedience to any behavioral directives found within Christianity, especially those related to sexuality. Carl Trueman masterfully detailed this rise of autonomy in his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution.3

In recognition of this existential threat, in 2020, the CMDA Board of Trustees prioritized the development of a curriculum that would enable our resident and student members to winsomely defend a biblical stance on several cultural hot-button issues, including homosexuality, abortion and transgender identification. The view of the board was that if our students and residents could be equipped with a solid foundation to winsomely defend biblical positions on these issues, it would increase their ability to withstand the increasing cultural pressures contained within healthcare education to accept these positions as normal. Therefore, the primary goal of the curriculum would be equipping participants to gently challenge the premises of someone holding anti-biblical positions so they may begin to question their way of viewing the world.

This curriculum, Standing Strong in Training, is now complete and available online at cmda.org/standingstrong. The curriculum is designed for group discussion, allowing the students and residents to role-play interactions with individuals who support abortion and the new sexuality, including the increasing myriad of gender identities. It comprises seven video modules, each accompanied by a leader guide to help facilitate discussions.

The curriculum begins by addressing one of the significant reasons individuals are increasingly abandoning the morality in which they were raised: the deferment to intuition as outlined by Jonathan Haidt in his book The Righteous Mind.4 In his many studies examining how people make moral decisions, Haidt discovered that when someone is initially faced with a new moral question to consider, they typically defer to their intuition rather than rationally thinking through the question to arrive at an answer based on previous teaching. He uses the illustration of an elephant and a rider, with the elephant representing intuition and the rider representing the rational thinking of that person. Haidt concludes that “elephants rule.” In other words, we typically decide on the morality of a new situation based on our intuition, which comes from our experience. Rarely does a person engage their rational thinking or consult some other authority, such as the Bible, as they work through a new moral query. Therefore, the resulting decision is often at odds with the rational frameworks under which they were raised, such as the Bible. The good news is intuition can be overcome, but it requires concerted effort.

To winsomely defend biblical values, individuals must consciously decide the foundational beliefs and presuppositions they will utilize to shape their lives. This can also be referred to as what worldview they will adopt, and it is a decision that can be made only by the individual themselves. Christian parents hope and pray their adult children will assume a Christian worldview

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As the newest edition to CMDA’s long list of resources for our members, StandingStronginTrainingis new curriculum that helps healthcare students and residents stand up against the cultural pressures facing Christians within healthcare today. To learn more, visit cmda.org/standingstrong.

incorporating a high view of Scripture. That is also our hope at CMDA for our students and residents. That is why the second and third modules press into worldviews, encouraging attendees to solidify their beliefs around foundational questions, presuppositions and worldviews.

Trueman points out that all existing worldviews can eventually be condensed into two foundational worldviews contrasting on whether our universe is created or came into being by sheer accident.3 The difference between these two worldviews is vast, with profound implications for how we should live in this world. The premise of this curriculum is that to defend biblical values on controversial topics winsomely, the person must first consciously adopt a biblical worldview while also gaining an understanding of the life implications contained within an accidental worldview.

For example, a preset structure and built-in values will always exist within a created worldview. While that structure and associated values may differ between different created worldviews depending on the religion, their existence defines and, to varying degrees, explains suffering in the world. In the biblical worldview, suffering is often, but not always, associated with disobedience to God’s commands, especially as they relate to His creation.

This understanding is especially helpful when dealing with human sexuality. The biblical worldview holds that God created humans such that expression of sexuality should be confined to the lifelong covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. When sexuality is expressed outside those confines, harm is likely to result. While that harm can be viewed as an extension of God’s wrath and punishment, it can also be viewed as the natural harm that occurs due to violating creation’s structure and built-in values.

The illustration I use within the curriculum is that of a car. Every car has a designer and thus also has a preset structure and built-in values. That’s why every car comes with an owner’s manual that lays out recommended maintenance procedures according to a particular schedule. Those procedures and schedules will differ depending on the model of the car, but they are nonetheless necessary for the proper functioning of the car. If a car owner chooses to ignore those procedures, such as regularly ignoring the need to add oil to the engine, eventual harm will come to the car. That harm results from the disregard and breach of the values and structure of that car arising from its design.

This perspective on sexual sin is beneficial in giving a winsome response to our biblical view of sexuality. Rather than framing alternative views of sexuality and sexual behavior as simply against God’s law (which, of course, they are), the winsome response frames the issue in terms of design and structure. Once again, the primary goal of this winsome response is not to convert or change; rather, it is to challenge the other person’s thinking and move them to examine their worldview.

The other significant difference between created and accidental worldviews is the strategy for achieving success and flourishing in life. Within the created worldview, flourishing is attained through understanding and adherence to the structure and builtin values within the creation. In the Christian worldview, that understanding is gained through the study of both the Old and New Testaments, followed by applying and obeying pertinent biblical principles. Within the accidental worldview, the universe simply consists of raw material. There is no inherent structure and certainly no built-in values. Therefore, a person within that worldview achieves their vision of flourishing through manipulating creation to achieve whatever they desire.

Another analogy to help understand this difference is that of a building. The creation worldview sees that building as containing doors, walls and supporting structures that cannot be moved. Therefore, the best utilization of that building is to adapt to the physical structure and design their living space according to existing doors and rooms. However, the person who adopts the accidental worldview sees that building essentially as Lego building blocks that can be moved and altered to fit their own personal desires. One current application of moving Lego blocks is the efforts of gender idealogues to change the physical body to match an internal sense of gender.

After taking the first three modules to develop and emphasize the differences between these two foundational worldviews, the following three modules deal separately with the issues of the beginning of life, biblical sexuality and transgender identification. The attendee is encouraged to avoid superficial arguments surrounding these topics and instead address them from a worldview perspective. This is accomplished by equipping the attendee to respond to provocative questions with a statement of their personal belief rather than a reactive response that only further provokes the other person.

Take, for example, a question posed to a Christian medical student by one of their peers along the lines of, “How can you possibly support bans on abortion that take away a woman’s reproductive rights?” This clearly provocative question is loaded with unbiblical presuppositions. If the student has not proactively prepared themselves for that question, they are likely to either react with an unhelpful answer or, by their silence, appear to cave to the social pressure.

If the student has prepared themselves to answer the question from their foundational beliefs, they could respond with an answer such as: “I believe both you and I are created beings and that our life began at fertilization. Further, I believe each individual life has an immeasurable value that is ignored and taken away if a woman chooses to end her pregnancy through abortion.” While that answer may not convince the interrogator to change their position on abortion, it serves to gently challenge some of their errant presuppositions while also giving a clear and compelling response to the provocative question.

This same type of foundational response is applied to the issues of premarital sex, homosexual behavior and transgender identification. Here are some suggested responses found within the curriculum:

“I believe that God has given us a wonderful gift in our sexuality...one that brings us great pleasure if used in the right way, but also great pain if used outside God’s design.”

“While I believe that the suffering of patients with gender dysphoria is genuine, I also believe that God has created us male and female and that He doesn’t make mistakes. Therefore, I believe the best way to help a patient with gender dysphoria is through specialized counseling that deals with any associated mental health issues.”

The curriculum concludes by examining the presuppositions of the Christian worldview to develop a winsome defense for conscience freedoms, such as refusal to avoid complicity with evil through engagement in effective referral or participation in procedures that induce harm. The Christian worldview offers clear principles regarding conscience, such as the commandment to maintain a clear conscience before God found in 1 Peter 3:15-

16. The example of first-century Christians giving their lives to maintain a clear conscience before God provides abundant motivation for today’s students and residents to stand strong against the increasing cultural pressures to adopt unbiblical positions.

The threat of losing the next generation to prevalent cultural values of the day has been with us since the resurrection of Christ. Still, that threat has never been greater than now with the overwhelming toxic mix of social media and other technological distractions. Therefore, it is incumbent on us, who are grounded in biblical values, to support and train those who follow behind. May the Lord use this and other similar resources to help the next generation stand strong for Him!

Endnotes

1 National Opinion Research Center. (2019). General Social Surveys, 1972-2018: Cumulative Codebook. University of Chicago. https://gss. norc.org/documents/codebook/GSS_Codebook_intro.pdf

2 Pew Research Center. (2022). Modeling the Future of Religion in America. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/ modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/.

3 Trueman, C. R. (2020). The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. Crossway.

4 Haidt, J. (2012). The Righteous Mind-Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Vintage.

Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Ethics), serves as Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy for CMDA. Dr. Barrows is an obstetrician/gynecologist, author, educator, medical ethicist and speaker. He completed his medical degree at the Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in 1978 and his residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. In 2006, he completed a master’s in bioethics from Trinity International University in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Barrows was called out of full-time practice in 1999 to help administrate CMDA’s Medical Education International (MEI) ministry. He served as the director of MEI from 2002 to 2005 before transitioning into the fight against human trafficking. He has dedicated 15 years of his career to fighting against human trafficking within the intersection of trafficking and healthcare, as well as the rehabilitation of survivors of child sex trafficking. Dr. Barrows has trained healthcare professionals on how to recognize and assist victims of trafficking within healthcare and has published numerous book chapters and articles. He has testified to the Ohio legislature on numerous anti-trafficking bills and is a speaker on human trafficking to the media, the church and in other venues. In 2008, Dr. Barrows founded Gracehaven, an organization assisting victims of domestic minor sex trafficking in Ohio. In 2014, he served as a member of the Technical Working Group on health and human trafficking under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. In addition, he is a founding board member of HEALTrafficking. In 2020, Dr. Barrows published a novel entitled Finding Freedom that realistically portrays child sex trafficking in the U.S.

FINISHING WELL Preparing for Retirement

SteveSartori,MD

As a Christian healthcare professional, you have likely thought about retirement. It is either a distant dream, an approaching reality or a present experience. For some, it stirs positive thoughts and emotions, such as relief from the demands of work, opportunities to spend more time with family, the pursuit of long-deferred hobbies and travel to foreign lands. For others, it incites anxieties surrounding health concerns, a lack of financial resources and the uncertainties of “what’s next.”

Many Christians eschew the term retirement, citing no biblical references to the term. If they are already tired, why would they want to be retired? The term is rebranded as “rewirement” or “refirement,” meaning the pursuit of an encore career or a new season of ministry. Whatever the case, for the healthcare professional, this term generally represents the season of life after the completion of a medical career.

If life is looked at like a triathlon, retirement represents the third phase of the event, the marathon. In Hebrews 12:1-2, the Bible offers the admonishment to run with perseverance the race God has marked out for us, ridding ourselves of things that hinder us and sins that entangle us. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus, who empowers us by faith to run the race at the pace of grace.

The beginning of this third season of life, this marathon, presents the challenge of navigating a multitude of concurrent transitions. Transitions are inherently risky, and sadly, for many, these transitions can leave them lonely, bored and unfulfilled. However, managed adeptly, these transitions offer opportunities to realize a deep sense of engagement, fulfilment and life satisfaction.

Perhaps the most challenging transition is the threat to identity and purpose. Most everyone, at some time or another, asks themselves four big questions: questions regarding origins, identity,

purpose and destiny. These are questions like, “Where did I come from?”, “Who am I?”, “What am I here for?” and “Where am I going?” While most Christians would likely say they have settled the first and last questions, a number of new retirees struggle with the middle two—the questions of identity and purpose.

If your identity is rooted in your role as healthcare professional, and how you see yourself or how others see you, then retirement represents an existential threat to that core identity. If your identity is rooted in Christ, with how God sees you and who God says you are, then leaving a professional career or role does not significantly impact your identity. One of my mentors used to ask, “Does what you do determine who you are, or does who you are determine what you do?”

Healthcare professionals with a firmly anchored sense of identity in Christ, who seek the Lord for a renewed sense of calling and purpose after leaving their career, are often surprised by the opportunities discovered. Some have found God calling them to continue using their skills in the context of international or domestic missions. Others are influencing lives as a mentor, coach, consultant or peer supporter.

Still others have identified roles within CMDA, working with students, residents or graduates, or they are engaged in unique encore careers.

Another challenging transition of retirement is the mindset regarding money. The shift from earning to spending, or from upsizing to downsizing or rightsizing, can be unsettling. Nu-

merous healthcare professionals engage a financial advisor in this process. These discussions focus on net worth, asset allocation, budgeting, tax diversification, debt elimination, drawdown strategies, transitioning to Medicare, the timing of collecting Social Security benefits and estate and legacy planning.

Sometimes overlooked is a strategy for optimizing generosity. Scripture states, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25, NIV 1984). Financial advisors, when apprised of this intention, can assist in implementing tax-wise giving strategies, including the use of a donor-advised fund, a qualified charitable distribution or other charitable instruments. The joy of adhering to the adage, “do your giving while you’re living so you’re knowing where it’s going,” should not be underestimated. The CMDA Stewardship department stands poised and available to assist you in optimizing your generosity.

Yet another transition is moving from a highly demanding, highly structured work schedule to a less demanding, more flexible schedule. Having countless time choices predetermined for you during your career, you now find yourself with several more choices.

While some early retirees embrace the low-key, unstructured lifestyle initially, they often find themselves yearning for the satisfaction of productivity and achievement that comes from a more structured day. Most retirees have found that identifying a new routine, with adequate structure, nurtures their sense of purpose and productivity. A common question to new retirees is, “What are you doing with all of your free time?” Those who successfully establish a new time routine often respond, “What free time?”

The Harvard Study of Adult Development revealed the drivers of good health, happiness and overall life satisfaction. George Vaillant, the former director of the study, concluded that the warmth of relationships throughout life has the greatest impact on life satisfaction.1 In short, he states, “Happiness is love.” Is it any wonder the Great Commandment is to love God, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40)?

Retirement introduces several relational transitions. Relationships with colleagues and co-workers often grow distant, while relationships outside of work are given a renewed opportunity to flourish. Without relational initiatives and investments, loneliness can be the result.

Married couples must adapt to a “new normal.” Habits and routines that served the marriage during the healthcare career are now disrupted, sometimes resulting in unanticipated tensions. Several couples entering this season of marriage seek counseling for the first time to help nurture their marriage during this transition. When navigated well, this phase of married life can be mutually satisfying and enjoyable.

If the numerous transitions associated with retirement seem overwhelming, that is because they can be. If retirement is like a marathon, then training and preparation are imperative for a strong finish, and it is never too early to get started.

Whatever your season of life, you will do well to consider what a life worth living looks like and make choices now that move you forward in the direction that leads to a fulfilling, satisfying and meaningful life. Healthcare professionals without much life outside of healthcare often have difficulties with life after healthcare, so living well now is the best preparation for living well later.

Where do you start? Like any of life’s challenges, a good place to start is with Scripture, prayer and meditation. As a Christian, you can be assured on the authority of Scripture that God gives you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), before and after retirement.

Major transitions take time to navigate. Don’t rush it. Some consultants recommend a protracted season of rest and reflection after closing out a professional career, like a sabbatical or the Old Testament practice of the Year of Jubilee. Although it is easy to fill the daily schedule quickly with a variety of new commitments, be careful as you can even experience burnout as a retiree.

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CMDA’s expanding team of experienced, certified coaches, all of whom are seasoned CMDA members, have walked alongside hundreds of Christian healthcare professionals for well over a decade. We offer professional coaching and coaching training at a reduced fee for CMDA members like you, to help with:

• Life and career transitions

• Preparing to thrive in retirement

• Leadership development

• Burnout prevention and recovery

• Spiritual growth

• Decision making

• Improving communication skills

• Understanding and developing your strengths

• And more

While there are several commonalities among retirement journeys, everyone is unique, best served by a customized individual retirement plan. Competent financial planners, coaches, mentors and peers recognize this. Choosing competent professionals as part of your support team can be immensely helpful. As the Bible states, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22).

In addition to coaching on all types and stages of transition, we teach and speak on topics related to transition, change, burnout, mentoring, spiritual growth and leadership. While we believe you are the best expert on your life, we bring our expertise in coaching to help you know yourself and God better so you can align your life with who you are and how He is calling you. Coaching can also help you identify damaging beliefs and identities you’ve picked up from healthcare training so you can examine and replace them with what you truly believe and how God sees you. This sets you up for living and working from a full bucket filled with God’s grace. In essence, our mission is to help you align with God, optimize your well-being and maximize your influence.

To connect with one of our coaches, email coaching@cmda.org. To learn more or register for a continuing education-accredited coaching training course, visit cmda.org/coachingor cmda.org/ wellbeing

How can CMDA help? I’m glad you asked. At the CMDA Center for Well-Being, several certified professional coaches offer coaching to CMDA members at a markedly reduced fee. These coaches are familiar with the principles of change and transition and are experienced in coming alongside healthcare professionals on their retirement journey. As Christians, CMDA coaches often facilitate the spiritual growth of their clients also.

If you are approaching retirement, don’t hesitate to reach out to a CMDA coach to accompany you on this journey. Quite a few CMDA retirees have benefitted from this professional relationship. It is a sign of strength and wisdom to reach out to a Christian coach as you seek the Lord during this next season of life.

For some retirees, who wish to grow their influence in the lives of others, acquiring the skills of coaching and mentoring can equip them with the tools they need for promoting growth in others. The CMDA Center for Well-Being offers several courses on coaching and mentoring each year. Information about these courses is updated regularly at cmda.org/coaching

Future CMDA considerations to serve retirees include group coaching cohorts facilitated by a professional CMDA coach. These cohorts will gather virtually to explore topics pertaining to retirement. The coach will facilitate conversations that will prompt each participant to establish an Individual Retirement Plan. The proposed kickoff date is fall 2024.

Stay tuned, and may you finish the race at the pace of grace.

Endnotes

1 Vaillant G. Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study. Cambridge: The Belknap Press; 2012.

Steve Sartori, MD, is a certified life and leadership coach, who helps doctors and other healthcare professionals optimize well-being, enhance leadership skills and navigate retirement. A graduate of The Medical College of Wisconsin, he has been chief of staff at two hospitals, faculty member for a family medicine residency program and chief medical officer for a community health center. He has served CMDA as a board member and founding Director of the Center for Well-Being. He is married, with two daughters and five grandchildren, and he enjoys traveling and sports. An avid fan of the Green Bay Packers, he can sometimes be seen wearing a cheesehead.

Partnership Ministry Teams

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Y O U R S U P P O R T C A N H E L P T R A N S F O R M A C O M M U N I T Y

S c a n t h e Q R C o d e t o l e a r n m o r e a b o u t P a r t n e r s h i p M i n i s t r y T e a m s , o r v i s i t : w w w l u k e s o c i e t y o r g / p m t s in a Christian doctor overseas & SUPPORTIVE ROLE:

p e r f o r m i n g m e d i c a l c a r e t h r o u g h s h o r t - t e r m m i s s i o n t r i p s , b u t b y e n h a n c i n g a n d e n c o u r a g i n g m e d i c a l a n d e v a n g e l i s t i c w o r k t h r o u g h i n d i g e n o u s d o c t o r s .

Develop an international relationship

Witness kingdom growth afar

Encourage a medic in their calling

Observe Christ through diversity

Grow in your own faith

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Sisterhood Strength in CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF WPDC

LeslieWalker,MD;withAmyGivler,MD;AutumnDawnGalbreath,MD;andSarahRahkola,MD

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Women Physicians & Dentists in Christ (WPDC) is an outreach ministry to provide resources for Christian women physicians and dentists to integrate their personal, professional and spiritual lives. We encourage and support Christian women and physicians as we share the unique challenges of our multiple roles. To learn more and get involved, visit cmda.org/wpdc

In the early 1990s, Dr. Patti Francis saw a need for a more directed ministry to women physician and dentist mem bers of CMDA. Dr. David Topazian, who was CMDA President at the time, agreed, and an ad hoc committee was formed. The initial interest was overwhelming. A sponsored breakfast at the 1991 CMDA National Convention hosted 48 women—more than there were seats! The CMDA Board of Trustees was mindful about potential division within the organization—why would women physicians need their own group? With grace, tact and prayer, our pioneers explained women Christian physicians had unique needs that could best be understood by others filling the same roles. By December 1992, the Women in Medicine & Dentistry (WIMD) Commission was formed. In 1994, we hosted our first national conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 87 attendees.

I was a medical student at that conference, newly married and wondering how on earth to combine my calling to healthcare with my hope to be a great wife and mom. We sat in a big circle, those 87 women, old and young, single and married, with and without children, and I listened to the introductions. “I’m a full-time OB with a live-in housekeeper.” “I’m a part-time breast surgeon.” “My husband and I share a family practice.” “My husband is a stayat-home dad.” “I’m a residency program director.” Their stories gave me hope that God would show me a unique path that suited my work and my family—and He did!

Other stories were tougher. “People in my church think women should be at home, and most of them are. The women’s activities are scheduled during weekday hours.” “People at work don’t understand my passion for missions.” “I’ve been sexually harassed.” “Men in my church make dumb blonde jokes. They don’t take me seriously unless they need medical connections. Or money.” The more we talked with each other, the more struck we were we had found our “tribe.” We could fully express our womanhood, our medical or dental callings and our faith, without having to minimize our gifts or our struggles.

Our early years were led by a strong and faithful core group, including Dr. Dorothy Barbo, Dr. Sally Knox, Dr. Gloria Halverson, Dr. Patti Francis and Dr. Darilyn Falck, among others. Key spiritual advisors along the way included Rev. Marti Ensign and Nahid Hotchkiss, PsyD, both wives of CMDA physicians who had a keen understanding of the challenges we faced. Several of our male colleagues had secretaries or wives who helped them organize and plan events. In contrast, few of us had secretaries, and none of us had wives, so we did our best with CMDA’s help to learn to plan conferences, negotiate contracts, hire speakers and obtain continuing education credit. We needed administrative help but had to raise enough money to support a part-time administrator. From the beginning, we emphasized transparency and authenticity, both in our leadership and in speakers at our conferences. Being a

We could fully express our womanhood, our medical or dental callings and our faith, without having to minimize our gifts or our struggles.

WIMD member was hard, and we did not want to pretend otherwise. Women could come to our conferences, be honest about workplace disasters, health crises and difficult marriages and find other women who understood. They would pray together, receive encouragement and sometimes give wise counsel.

Our first formal mission statement from 2001 was “To encourage and support women physicians and dentists in living out their Christian faith in their professional and personal lives.” The WIMD Commission was made up of women physician and dentist leaders who created, ran and funded a variety of ministries to meet unique needs. Our national conferences rotated across U.S. regions for easier access. Women physicians are much more likely to be single than men physicians, and several of our early leaders like Drs. Holly Austin and Jane Goleman were active in the national CMDA Singles Ministry helping identify ways to better support single WIMD members. Others like Drs. Cara Brown, Patti Francis and Amy Givler served on CMDA’s Marriage Enrichment Commission, and they realized that, when participating couples at a Marriage Enrichment Weekend retreat had a woman physician/dentist, their husbands really connected. Since 2013, there has been one marriage enrichment retreat each year in which all the wives are physicians or dentists.

In 2013, CMDA leadership encouraged us to reconsider our name as more allied professionals joined the CMDA organization, particularly women. We again felt a clear call from God that our mission was to address the unique needs of women physicians and dentists and their respective trainees and launched as Women Physicians in Christ (WPC). In 2019, in a desire to signal the inclusion of our dental colleagues, we became WPDC—Women Physicians & Dentists in Christ. Drs. Amanda Eschelbach and Elisa Ghezzi have been instrumental throughout the years in leading and networking among Christian women dentists and dental students, and we are now blessed to have two dentists and one dental student sitting on the WPDC Commission.

Care for medical and dental trainees has always been a priority. WPDC members fund scholarships for students and residents to be able to attend the annual conference and mission trips. They have established mentoring relationships, and some host local groups for women students and residents. They recently added a research poster competition at the WPDC Annual Conference, as some medical students are only permitted leave for conferences if they are presenting research. We have always prioritized excellent continuing education, with at least 12 hours of continuing education credits offered at each conference. WPDC members in academic medicine, as well as those in private practice and on the mission field, have all given generously of their time and knowledge to teach us. They model dedication to ongoing learning and teaching as a core part of our ministry.

A desire to care for our women in transition, burnout and times of loss led to the creation of a small-group weekend retreat designed specifically for six to eight physicians and dentists in practice or retirement. Grasping Power through Surrender (GPS) retreats began in 2011. They are led by a spiritual director (currently Jane Goleman MD, DMin) and an experienced WPDC physician helper. They take place all over the U.S. and have been a powerful tool for encouragement and discernment for numerous WPDC members.

A key inflection point came in 2013, when we had numerous ministries and ideas, and our conferences were approaching 200 participants. Dr. Autumn Dawn Galbreath helped me sift through the applicants, and God led us to Debbie McAlear, our first full-time administrator at CMDA headquarters. With her background in conference planning and publishing, she was uniquely positioned to help us grow. The Pulse e-newsletter launched with her help, now reaching more than 7,000 women physicians and dentists each month. With Debbie’s recent retirement, we were blessed to add Events and Operations Manager Monica Giglio to our team, and she has already proven to be a dedicated and talented addition to the ministry.

“To encourage and support Christian women physicians and dentists as we share the unique challenges of multiple roles through authentic relationships (Acts 2:42), personal growth (Psalm 119:10), discipleship and mentoring (Titus 2:3-4) and professional development (Colossians 3:23-24).”

Strategic planning meetings in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2019 have helped us discern God’s leading for the group over time. By 2009, our vision was, “The key resource for Christian women physicians and dentists in integrating their personal, professional and spiritual lives.” Thus, our mission expanded, “To encourage and support Christian women physicians and dentists as we share the unique challenges of multiple roles through authentic relationships (Acts 2:42), personal growth (Psalm 119:10), discipleship and mentoring (Titus 2:3-4) and professional development (Colossians 3:23-24).”

One important aspect of WPDC is service through healthcare missions. In 2008, WPDC began partnering with CMDA’s Global Health Outreach to send short-term healthcare mission teams made up primarily of women. Especially for women and children who have been trafficked, women physicians and dentists who serve on these teams help patients feel safe and provide models of strong, capable, loving Christian women. In 2011, Drs. Chris Borghi-Cavallaro and Gloria Halverson built relationships with founders of the House of Hope, a ministry initially in Nicaragua and later in Honduras. They returned twice a year from 2013 to 2017 and annually most years since, though limited by civil unrest and COVID. Women healthcare professionals provide medical and spiritual care to both women in brothels and those who have moved to the House of Hope with their children. In addition to their time, talents and medical equipment, WPDC members gave generously

over time to provide a bus, school uniforms and supplies for children, and we even funded medical school tuition and supplies for a Nicaraguan woman physician. A number of WPDC members returned repeatedly, building relationships with the staff and the women served at House of Hope. Lives were changed, and God was glorified.

In 2014, WPDC launched Women Missionary Doctors (WMD) led by Dr. Joy Draper, targeting the needs of women physician and dentist missionaries who face unique challenges in balancing leadership, patient care and singleness or family responsibilities. Resources include an e-newsletter, informal networking and mentoring. Pioneering women missionaries have played key roles at the annual conferences through gripping and inspiring keynotes, like Drs. Helen Roseveare, Margaret Brand, Cynthia Hale, Carol Spears and several others.

Another key role for WPDC within CMDA is to nominate women to serve on CMDA’s House of Representatives and CMDA’s Board of Trustees. Although women make up about half of most medical school classes, relatively few obtain leadership roles in medical or Christian organizations. Effective women leaders encourage younger women to try. It is challenging for busy women to take on even more roles, but a number of WPDC participants accepted God’s call to serve on the board, and three have been elected president of CMDA: Drs. Dorothy Barbo, Ruth Bolton and Gloria Halverson. Currently, 10 of the 20 members of the board are women physicians, dentists or students.

One of the interesting things we noticed at WPDC annual conferences was significant racial diversity. We recognize that our

WPDC members of color face additional challenges. WPDC workshops have addressed racism in the church and helped WPDC members of color to network and encourage each other. Drs. Andrea Johnson, Brenda Abraham and Joy Walton are active WPDC members serving on the CMDA R2ED Committee (Racism, Reconciliation, Equality and Diversity), and they can bridge ideas and resources between WPDC and R2ED.

COVID brought unexpected challenges and blessings to WPDC. We had to rapidly convert our annual conference to an online platform in 2020, which led to growth in attendance and even allowed some of our overseas members to participate! We began quarterly virtual conferences offering worship, a keynote speaker and small-group breakouts allowing women to meet other WPDC members and the opportunity to continue those connections afterward.

Even back in person, these quarterly meetings encourage and bless numerous WPDC members, especially those who are in more rural settings or are unable to leave work or caregiving responsibilities to come to a weekend conference. Being a Christian woman in healthcare can be incredibly lonely. When you wonder if your church questions whether you should be working at all, and the healthcare culture wants you to work more with less support and without regard for your caregiving responsibilities or health, and you face the challenges of sexism (and for some, racism or ableism), it is hard to persevere.

The mission of In His Image is to improve health and bring hope by training physicians in our Family Medicine Residency Program, giving excellent holistic healthcare to our patients and providing medical education and healthcare overseas

We train our residents to practice compassionate medicine in a wide variety of settings, focusing on medically underserved populations in the United States (both urban and rural) and overseas. www.inhisimage.org

This is why WPDC exists. Psalm 68:6 says, “God sets the lonely in families….” For a lot of us, the sisterhood of WPDC is the family that supports us through medical training and practice, retirement, singleness, marriage, divorce, widowhood, having children, infertility, loss and issues in our churches including rejection during the COVID pandemic. If you are a Christian woman physician or dentist, and you have felt lonely or wondered if there is anyone out there who understands your unique needs, we do. Come join us in Branson, Missouri on September 5-8 for the WPDC 2024 Annual Conference and learn what it’s like to be “God-empowered, beyond your wildest dreams!”

Dr. Leslie Walker’s MD and MS (neuroscience) degrees are from the University of Michigan, and her bachelor of science in biochemistry is from Wheaton College. She completed her psychiatry residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2000 and began solo practice in Cleveland in 2007. She specializes in treating physicians and in women’s mental health. She formerly served as the women’s trauma program psychiatrist for the Cleveland VA Hospital. She teaches at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and speaks nationally to physicians on psychiatric topics, work/family balance, faith, resilience and self-care. She and her physician husband have two adult children and previously served on the CMDA Marriage Enrichment Commission. She has been active in the CMDA since 1991, serving as past chair of the Women in Medicine & Dentistry commission and current member of the Northeast Ohio CMDA advisory council.

LIFETIME MEMBE R

“OUR LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP IN CMDA has paid dividends again and again. CMDA was our lifeline during medical school, and it continues to impact how we practice, how we deal with difficult ethical issues and how we strive to fulfill our callings. THROUGH CMDA, WE HAVE MADE LIFELONG FRIENDS.”

—Drs. J. Matthew and Cara Brown

CMDA Lifetime Members

CMDA LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP — A LIFELINE FOR A LIFETIME

When you become a CMDA Lifetime Member, you make a lifetime commitment to the ministry of CMDA. More importantly, you make a lifetime investment in bringing the hope and healing of Christ to the world. It is truly A LIFELINE

FOR A LIFETIME

It also means no annual dues payments. You make a one-time payment, and then you are a member for life! Plus, you gain access to exclusive resources and events just for lifetime members. With new lower rates for Lifetime Members, you could see cost savings up to 60 percent from annual membership dues based on your age and category in healthcare. To learn more about being a Lifetime Member, scan the QR code or visit cmda.org/lifetime

Bioethics

The Dr. John Patrick Bioethics Column

WHY DO WE SHY AWAY FROM SIN AND

Plenty of clever people are beginning to say some sensible things, although the ruling elite are hardly listening at all. Most of the clever people who immediately recognized the significance of the fiasco at Harvard University involving Claudine Gay nevertheless analyzed it in terms of an ill-thought-out affirmative move in line with the currently dominant but rotting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs—which need to rewrite themselves as DIE programs and then be killed.

The appointment of Claudine Gay was simply wrong because she had none of the necessary academic credentials. As scholar and philosopher Thomas Sowell never tires of saying, all policy decisions have consequences, some of which can be avoided by careful thought. No careful thought has gone into the hiring patterns in higher education for a long time. We all want hiring in healthcare to be based on competence, but instead we produce boxes to be checked which do not predict overall competence. The cancelling and even firing of top-level epidemiologists at Stanford and Harvard clearly indicate that competence is not the main issue—politics are. Politicians need to be kept out of policy decisions that are primarily about science and medicine, especially where there is already considerable disagreement. There ought not to be any areas of speech governed by political narratives, although that is obviously hard to do. He who pays the piper usually can call at least some of the tunes. Nevertheless, everyone in the university environment knows standards have been steadily declining for some time. The catastrophe involving Claudine Gay’s mistakes illustrates this phenomenon.

stood the Marxist barbarians were taking over, exactly as Antonio Gramsci had suggested. Gramsci thought the only way the left could win was via the long march through the institutions. (Gramsci was a founding member of the Italian Communist party, but he thought cultural dominance was more important than economic power). The long march through the institutions would displace all that rooted us in a rich cultural tradition, turning education into propaganda-driven “studies” programs. It has almost succeeded.

At the other end of the intellectual spectrum, psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist1 is engaging a more thoughtful way to deal with the problem of real standards more than anyone else of whom I am aware. He is something of a polymath, starting with undergraduate English at Oxford University in the 1970s where he under-

McGilchrist, however, went on to read medicine before turning to neurophysiology and brain imaging at Johns Hopkins and practicing psychiatry. He was well aware of the obvious fact that cultures rise and fall, but the question of why remains, especially when, like ours, the culture is declining. Three cultures have been the main resources for the scientific and economic success of the West: the Jewish culture rooted in the Old Testament; the Greek culture about the same time, giving us logic and serious philosophical writing and thought; and the Chris-

John Patrick, MD

tian culture, which totally redirected us away from the pride of thinking we could fix things ourselves to a radical recognition of the central problem of sin and the need for a Savior and the Holy Spirit who would convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He would also renew our minds and lead us into a world where righteousness is celebrated rather than scorned. We, however, must continue in the apostle’s doctrine, breaking of bread, fellowship and prayers. C.S. Lewis talked about the real nature of Christianity on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) during World War II, and those talks grew into Mere Christianity. The opening chapter is entitled “Right and Wrong as the Clue to the Meaning of the Universe.” One of the most fundamental chasms between us and all other living creatures is that we all know good and evil exist; the animals don’t. Our lives are dominated by immaterial realities like love/hatred, truth/lies, promise keeping/breaking, etc. Unlike the material world, which we believe to be expanding, our moral world has limits such as from love to hatred, justice to injustice.

What McGilchrist does is show what we have lost since the time of C.S. Lewis. He focuses on the brain and shows us that our world is out of kilter based on faulty neurophysiology and pathology, and he is rapidly convincing the world that our previous views of right and left brain function are completely wrong. The left brain has become too dominant. It is concerned with the detailed life of grabbing and getting whilst the right brain is concerned with the big picture and should be dominant. Watch birds feeding and you see the two worlds at work. Picking up small seeds requires precise attention by the left brain in order to live, but at the same time the right brain must be scanning the world to see that the feeding bird doesn’t become some other creature’s breakfast. Just like any other biological function, the right brain must be appropriately exercised, and this is done via teaching—particularly literature and history. All cultures have their dark sides, but to pretend the West has been the worst of all has no basis in history. Those of us who grew up in the West and have traveled know that much good and some evil came out of the period of western hegemony.

Now here’s the problem: for more than five centuries, because of the obvious benefits of reductionistic science, we have concentrated on and rewarded left brain activities, the left brain world of detailed observation and measurement has dominated the right brain world of abstract meaning, purpose, art and religion. When I talk to Christian parents about their children’s education, they almost always want it to be relevant and directed toward a career. It is as though Paul’s magnificent and challenging command in Philippians 4:8 to meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, beautiful and good had never been written. This is vastly more relevant and directed to eternal ends. As for wisdom, which we need in our political leaders, modern students are unlikely to hear the Word in school. T.S. Eliot asked the question when he wrote:

“Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

(Choruses from The Rock, 1934)

For centuries, the only book generally well-known in the West was the Bible. Its stories provided the means to deal with the fact that life was generally “nasty, brutish and short”2 for most people. Only a transcendent story can provide hope if that story is true. Most suffering and injustice can only hope for ultimate understanding in a world to come with occasional flashes of the eternal light here and now. The Psalms provided comfort in the here and now as they still do. When Christians go through hard times, the Psalms are the last resource to fade from their minds. Most of the enduring literature, art and music of the Western world is not trivial and is saturated for this reason in Scripture. The metaphors of the Western world are dominated by the Bible; without them, we are diminished.

An example from literature: In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen has Darcy say when he realizes he loves Elizabeth, “You must have thought me devoid of all proper sentiment.” He acknowledges the deficit in his education. When a culture is deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, marriage is sacred and faithfulness required. When this becomes an enculturated norm, divorce is rare and major inventiveness increases only to fall away again when marriage waivers. The proper sentiments that Darcy recognizes were rooted in Scripture where there are examples of what is proper and what is not. Those examples were learned by listening to the Bible every day in school. There were no exams on this; it was lived. Thus, my blue-collar upbringing was in a street where no attacks on women happened, we did not lock our doors, the police were never called and divorce was exceedingly rare. This was our “tacit world” composed of stories and ideas that everyone knew.

Aristotle’s attempt to define the good life was easily integrated into the thought of Thomas Aquinas because it is part of what is written on our hearts. When we stop teaching these things via great literature from the past, we are robbing our children of their heritage. What President John Adams said is proving true: “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”3

Endnotes

1 https://youtu.be/OpCIHhw4i8g?si=Ggi1Zbu31KRRgM_V

2 https://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2013/04/05/thomas-hobbes-solitarypoor-nasty-brutish-and-short/

3 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102

John Patrick, MD, studied medicine at Kings College, London and St. George’s Hospital, London in the United Kingdom. He has held appointments in Britain, the West Indies and Canada. At the University of Ottawa, Dr. Patrick was Associate Professor in Clinical Nutrition in the Department of Biochemistry and Pediatrics for 20 years. Today he is President and Professor at Augustine College and speaks to Christian and secular groups around the world, communicating effectively on medical ethics, culture, public policy and the integration of faith and science. Connect with Dr. Patrick at johnpatrick.ca. You can also learn more about his work with Augustine College at augustinecollege.org

Classifieds

To place a classified advertisement, contact communications@cmda.org.

Associate General Dentist — Garden Spot Dental Care is a growing, mission-minded dental practice with two locations in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We are professional, patient-centric and fun. State of the art facilities with awesome team. Great culture. Our work environment includes: modern, state of the art office settings; currently, three doctors; opportunity to be mentored by a doc with over 40 years clinical and teaching experience; we utilize the support of expanded function dental assistants; healthy new patient flow; and minimum daily guarantee and percentage of adjusted production. Garden Spot Dental Care is looking for a dentist to join our practice family and be a part of our growing team! Built on Christian principles, we want a dentist that shares our beliefs and is willing to provide Christ-centered care to our patient family. We are looking for a dynamic team member who is passionate about providing excellent quality care. He or she will be a team player, teachable and able to provide a variety of clinical services for all ages. We offer all phases of dentistry including general restorative, crown and bridge, implant placement and restoration, Invisalign, endo, oral surgery. Experience: Open to new graduates, some experience preferred. Job Type: Full-time. Salary: $248,645.00 - $400,000.00

per year. Benefits: 401(k); 401(k) matching; dental insurance; employee discount; flexible schedule; health insurance; professional development assistance; no weekends; wonderful quality of life with great access to good schools, healthcare, faith communities; and best of both worlds: affordable suburban living with rolling farmland, yet easy access to Philadelphia (1 hour), Baltimore (1.5 hours), Washington, D.C. (2.5 hours) and New York City (2.5 hours). For more information, contact dcwdmd1@gmail.com or call 717-572-5196.

Chief Medical Officer — Enjoy life in the City of Oaks! Six-year-old, non-profit, faith-based clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina is seeking a full-time chief medical officer in a modern medical practice where receiving continuity of care isn’t dependent upon one’s working status, lack of insurance or a co-payment. NeighborHealth Center is aligned with Christian faith principles and committed to serving patients of any faith. Our practitioners strive to live out the gospel by meeting each patient with the same grace, kindness and acceptance Jesus has shown us. Check out our website at www.neighborhealthcenter.org for more information. Email our HR Generalist at dmoninger@neighborhealthcenter.org for package details.

Disciple-making Physicians — Do you long to see God work through your medical practice? We are the largest vasectomy reversal practice in the U.S. We plant God’s field for new birth in body and spirit. We train physicians spiritually and medically. If you proficiently enjoy simple skin suturing; if you want to make disciple-making disciples of Jesus among your patients; and if God is calling you to this work, we can train you in this medical ministry to fulfill the Great Commission. Come join us at our Warwick, Rhode Island location. We are also eager to talk with medical students about future clinic locations. Contact drdavid@ thereversalclinic.com.

Family Medicine — FT/PT physician eager to serve God through the practice of family medicine is invited to join the New Creation Healing Center team in Kingston, New Hampshire, to heal the sick and share the gospel. Check out our website www. newcreationhc.org (click opportunities) for more information. For package details, contact Mary Pearson, DO, at 603-819-3204 or via email at drmarygrace@hotmail.com. We love God and we love people!

Medical Director — Biola University seeks Medical Director for their Health Center to provide administrative leadership and medical care for students. Board certification in family practice or internal medicine preferred. Learn more at www.biola.edu/hr/employment

Medicos Fellowship — Since 1999, Medicos has provided bilingual training for physicians called to service in mission hospitals or rural communities. Applicants must qualify for an unrestricted medical license. Develop needed skills such as Cesarean section, ambulatory surgery/anesthesia, point of care ultrasound/ radiology and stewardship training for the design of a locally supported healthcare ministry. Support is available for qualified residents with this interest. Memphis, Tennessee and rural. Send CV to wmrodney@ aol.com.

OB/Gyn — OB/Gyn Head of Department wanted at Kanad Hospital. Kanad Hospital, a Christian Mission hospital in Al Ain, UAE, is looking for an OB/Gyn Head of Department with strong leadership skills. The ideal candidate should be board certified, have laparoscopic skills and share our values of honoring God and providing loving healthcare to women and children. Past experience as HOD and involvement in quality works are preferred. Interested candidates should contact intentional@kanadhospital.org

Pediatrics — Seeking a pediatrician for a group practice in Montgomery, Alabama. A busy general pediatrics group of four doctors is seeking a BC/BE pediatrician for a fulltime position to replace a retiring physician in Montgomery, Alabama. Pediatric Healthcare (PHC) is a thriving, physician-owned practice established 41 years ago and well respected in the tri-county area. All pediatricians are believers and are seeking a like-minded partner. This position uniquely allows the new physician to assume the care of a mature practice of patients, with the opportunity for partnership in one to two years. Excellent compensation package and future income potential. There is a $20,000 signing bonus and moving expenses are covered. The PHC office is a stand-alone, up-to-date facility that provides four exam rooms per doctor and a private office for each doctor. Other office features include a laboratory, hearing/vision room, minor surgery room, spacious patient waiting areas (divided sick and well) and comfortable clerical area for patient reception and business operation. The practice website is PedHealthcare.com. The doctors work a fourday week and every fourth weekend on call. The call rotation allows for a Friday off every fourth weekend. A call center staffed by nurses at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham handles all nighttime calls. The doctors provide inpatient care only for well newborns. There is excellent neonatal coverage at the hospitals, including attendance at deliveries as needed, allowing the PHC doctors to focus on outpatient care. Interested candidates should send their CV to Stephanie at SMcClelland@PedHealthcare. com or TrumbullD3@gmail.com. If you have questions, call the office at 334-273-9700.

CMDA PLACEMENT SERVICES

Bringing together healthcare professionals to further God’s kingdom

I

“Absolutely

amazing!

would not have found my job without CMDA Placement Services.”

—

Rachel VanderWall, NP

“It’s a valuable source for colleagues who recognize that their calling to medicine is a calling to ministry.”

— The Jackson Clinic

We exist to glorify God by placing healthcare professionals and assisting them in finding God’s will for their careers. Our goal is to place healthcare professionals in an environment that will encourage ministry and also be pleasing to God.

We make connections across the U.S. for healthcare professionals and practices. We have an established network consisting of hundreds of opportunities in various specialties.

You will benefit from our experience and guidance. Every single placement carries its own set of challenges. We help find the perfect fit for you and your practice.