Physician
John Freedman, Kaiser Permanente
First off, let me say that if we had an award to give out to a person that has pursued their passion to the fullest extent it would have to go to John Freedman. John was one of the most interesting people that we talked to on our 2006 tour. His story is one in which a passion was identified and built upon in a most unusual and beautiful way.
It starts in 1976, when John graduated from Brown University with a degree in English Literature. Feeling that he could do something more for humanity, he took a handful of science courses in addition to his degree’s coursework. As a result of his academic exploration, John developed a love for medicine. Upon completion of his pre-med requirements, he applied to medical school at Yale. He attributes his acceptance letter to his diverse academic portfolio, which helped differentiate him from competing applicants.
John was attracted to Yale because of their prestigious psychiatry program. After receiving practical experience in the field however, he realized that psychiatry moved much too slow for his liking. While working in an intensive care unit he became interested in the dynamics of internal medicine. He became fixed on becoming an anesthesiologist. This road would eventually lead him to Santa Rosa, California where he took a position as chief of a newly constructed hospital.
After four years of college, another four years of medical school and a brutally demanding medical internship, John accepted a position as a research assistant in Salvador, Brazil. His time in Salvador exposed him to new people and experiences, which inspired him to further his involvement in third world medical projects. He would later return to Brazil to work in a tropical disease hospital, followed by a stint in Zambia, Africa as a visiting professor in ‘94, in ‘97 went back to Africa to Kilimanjaro Medical Center. Then in ‘99 he received a letter from President Clinton requesting that he lead a group of physicians to Cuba. After traveling to all these places and hearing people ask what they can do to contribute, John realized that some kind of organizational structure should be created. The culmination of both his education and first-hand experiences was the development of Medical Exchange International (MEI), a non-profit organization dedicated to international health care collaborations.
“Small things in these type of environments can make a big difference. I was in Cambodia last October, and they had one piece of equipment in their hospital which told a doctor some valuable information about your blood by percent. The wire on this piece of equipment was frayed to the point that its days were numbered. When I got back home, I found a replacement cable to send back over there. Very small thing, but when you look at what they really need, it makes a huge difference.”
Not such a little thing is the fact that Kilimanjaro Medical Center’s latest medical book was published in 1968. MEI took it upon themselves to change this. They raised the money to do so in a most unconventional way. Pledges sponsored John’s ten year-old son in his mission to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. He accomplished the feat and enough money was raised to purchase and ship new medical books to the facility.
Please visit their website at: www.medicalexchangeintl.com with the following story in mind. A patient of John’s had a dramatic cesarean section experience, and the husband wanted to thank John for his assistance. The husband was a very tech-savvy guy and wanted to learn more about MEI. He researched the organization online and found that they had no official website. He approached John and offered to build the website pro-bono. As a result, the general public can now read and follow MEI’s past accomplishments, current projects and plans for the future. John is currently a practicing physician and chief of department for Kaiser Permanente. He also leads “Hikes for Healthcare” an MEI fundraiser.
“Hard work, focus, and believing what you are doing are the keys to getting by in school. Really learning from something and going beyond what you’ve learned secondhand is important. It also is really important to have good people around because that has a huge influence on you and your learning and development as a person. But it develops over time.”
John has been to a little over 80 different countries in his lifetime. Going to different countries have been fascinating, and John says that even if your introductory experience may be formalized or propagandistic, it is still better than no experience because you can look someone in the eyes and see them and their society. “The most interesting countries are the ones that are emotionally involved, and those are countries that I could go to again and again and again. Each time I go it’s like peeling an onion, and you keep getting to a new layer, and the way that you get to that next layer is to become emotionally involved in that country.” Cuba, Vietnam, Brazil, and Japan were the most fascinating countries that John said he has been.
We had to ask him about the dangers of traveling because he was in Vietnam for the first SARS breakout, and for the Avian flu! He has traveled in a lot of malarias regions, where every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria. But John says “it boils down to taking calculated risks, having common sense, and showing vigilance.”
Another question we asked was if he could give students any piece of advice, what would that be.
“The secret to happiness is to find something that you love to do and become the best at it, which is the best you can be. And then, find someone that will pay you well for it.”
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Pursue the Passion: The Interviews » Blog Archive » Stewart Bryan Says:
May 4th, 2007
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