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Support Dr. Tom Catena
Dr. Tom Catena is the only surgeon available to treat about 2,000,000 people in the war-torn Nuba Mountains of Sudan. African Mission Healthcare and its generous partners are the leading supporters of Gidel Hospital, the region’s only teaching and referral center.
Dr. Catena’s Story
Growing up in Amsterdam, NY, Dr. Tom Catena attended Brown University and Duke Medical School. After completing his residency in Indiana and serving as a Navy doctor for five years, he went straight to the mission field in Kenya, where he honed his surgical skills. In 2008, he moved to Sudan to serve the people of the Nuba Mountains.
He left behind family, friends, and the outside world to serve in one of the most remote and dangerous areas on earth. When the fighting started in 2011, almost all the expatriate workers evacuated, but Dr. Catena remained. He said that leaving would be the same as saying his life is more important than those in Nuba, which he did not accept.
In 2014, the hospital was targeted. Bombs fell right next to his home. But still, Dr. Catena chose to stay. Now his wife, Nasima, a native of the Nuba Mountains and a nurse at Gidel Hospital, serves with him. Dr. Catena, Nasima and their son Francis live full-time in Nuba.
Dr. Catena needs your help to continue his life’s work of training local medical staff and caring for families living in this forgotten region.