A Dual Commitment to Care and Change: Reflecting on the Balance Between Clinical Work and Global Advocacy
Written by Kerry Vaughan, MD, MSc, Africa Site Director, Barrow Global
Balancing the demands of neurosurgical practice in the United States with a growing commitment to global health has been one of the most interesting and rewarding aspects of a career in neurosurgery. However, our responsibility as health care workers extends far beyond our own operating rooms—global gaps and inequities in health care should be a common goal for all of us to learn about and support, from local underserved communities to distant populations with limited medical resources.
Access to surgical care remains out of reach for too many, particularly in underserved communities around the world. The challenges of working with different health care systems and cultures to improve health care for all drew me to global neurosurgery.
That path took shape through a research fellowship in Uganda with the Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change and a global fellowship in neurosurgery, which brought me to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania. There, I had the privilege of working alongside dedicated local teams, sharing knowledge and resources while learning far more in return. It was a place that quickly became close to my heart and is now a defining site in my professional journey.
Today, my time is shared between clinical work in Phoenix and continuing my work in global neurosurgery with our partner sites in Tanzania, Panama, and Paraguay. In my role as the Africa site director for Barrow Global, I help guide our partnership with Happiness Rabiel, MD, the Chief of the Neurosurgery Department at KCMC, and support the growth of the newly launched neurosurgery residency program with the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa. We are tremendously proud to support this program, as it represents a major milestone in expanding Tanzania’s capacity to train neurosurgeons locally. Our inaugural two residents in the training program began their training in February this year. They hail from Tanzania and Kenya, speaking to the dedication of KCMC and Barrow Global to enhance medical education across East Africa as a whole.
As Barrow Global faculty, I return to KCMC on short- to intermediate-term visits, working closely with faculty and trainees to assist with curriculum development, teaching, research infrastructure and project development, case-based learning, and mentorship. The program is still in its infancy, and like any new training effort, it requires careful nurturing, consistent support, and a shared commitment to long-term sustainability. Our goal is not to create dependency, but to help build a self-sustaining, independent training program that will stand strong on its own, led entirely by local faculty and graduates and with global collaborators available as needed.
This dual commitment, serving patients in my clinical practice at home while investing in systems strengthening abroad, has become my version of balancing contributions to global patient care. Outstanding mentors like Gail Rosseau, MD, have provided wisdom and guidance for me through the years of carving a path in global neurosurgery. Her example showed me that advocacy is not a side project, it is a core part of our responsibility as surgeons. It was through her encouragement that I found the voice to step into more formal advocacy roles and now serve as Permanent Council Secretary of the G4 Alliance.
Working within the G4 Alliance and Barrow Global has broadened my perspective on what it means to be a surgeon and a global citizen. Leadership is cultivated through collaboration, humility, and persistence, and we each have a role to play in shaping more equitable systems of care.
The Barrow Global and Franke family commitments to investment in programs and people have created a space for me to contribute to global health care solutions. This comprehensive approach to strengthening health care for all and supporting individuals and collaborations is the key to creating meaningful and lasting change in global neurosurgery.
This article is part of the “Action & Advocacy” series edited and curated by Gail Rosseau, MD, Adjunct Professor of Neurosurgery with Barrow Global.