Medicine at the Margins By Anna Louie Sussman
NEW YORK CITY— As doctors absorbed in caring for other people’s hearts, Amy Lehman, who was training in cardio-thoracic surgery in Chicago, and Sania Nishtar, Pakistan’s first female cardiologist, had to slow down and tune into their own to realize what they really wanted to do: help the most marginalized people access care.
Dr. Lehman was drawn to the isolated coastal communities along Lake Tanganyika, where 3 million people live with almost no health care infrastructure. Dr. Nishtar sought to leverage telecommunications technology to put vital treatments within reach of Pakistan’s poorest citizens, who often fall into a cycle of further debt and poverty when faced with unexpected health care bills. Read the entire article >>