Surgeon in the Village, A

By 2006, Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the American medical establishment. But he was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he took a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydom, Tanzania. While there, he discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew: Tanzania has just three neurosurgeons in a country with a population of 43 million. During his stay, he met Emmanuel Mayegga, an assistant medical officer. Though Mayegga only had the equivalent education of a physician's assistant, he realized that Mayegga had the dexterity, intelligence, and confidence to be a great surgeon. Dr. Ellegala began training him to perform brain surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country. Since that first trip, Dr. Ellegala has solidified his "train-forward" philosophy into the NGO Madaktari (Swahili for "doctors")--a group that sends hundreds of doctors around the world to serve as mentors and to create a sustainable new model for global health.