Medge Owen, M.D., Associate Professor of Obstetric Anesthesia has traveled extensively to improve childbirth conditions for women in developing countries. Worldwide, nearly 600,000 women die during childbirth each year. Most of these deaths occur in developing countries and could be prevented. Photo shows Medge Owen teaching new-born resuscitation class in Ghana Africa.

In 2001, Dr. Owen established a non-profit organization, Kybele, Inc., to promote education in obstetric anesthesia and neonatal resuscitation. “Kybele” was the goddess of childbirth in ancient Anatolia, now modern day Turkey. Owen was a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey (1997-1999) and helped establish an obstetrical anesthesia service at Uludug University. In September 2004, Owen will return to Turkey with a delegation of 8 obstetric anesthesiologists from prestigious universities throughout the U.S. and U.K. to teach regional anesthesia for childbirth. She is also co-authoring the first textbook of obstetric anesthesia to be published in Turkey, scheduled for release in late 2004. In addition to her efforts in Turkey, Owen has taught neonatal resuscitation in Brazil, Croatia, and Ghana. She also chairs the Committee on International Outreach for the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP).

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Operation Smile. Two of our pediatric faculty volunteer with Operation Smile, an international group providing free surgical services to people in the U.S. and 18 countries who have cleft lips and palates, burns, and more severe craniofacial deformities, as well as limb deformities. Those involved, Jim O'Brien (Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru) and Doug Ririe (Ecuador, Panama, China, and Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay), travel to these destinations as part of a medical team and provide anesthesia and perioperative care for patients having these surgeries. Photo shows Doug Ririe with Operation Smile in Bolivia.