Fall 2026

I often marvel at how little today’s healthcare professionals touch their patients. Touch in a healthcare setting includes social contact, palpation and examination. Instead, they hover over their computer screens, avoiding eye contact or any form of meaningful human interaction during their visit time. I hesitate to call several of these “interactions” healthcare appointments or consultations, as they are devoid of a handshake or hug for a hurting soul or even eye contact between healthcare professional and patient.

We are now living in a “low trust” culture where politicians proclaim multiculturalism but show disrespect for all cultures that don’t believe as they do, that all values are equally valid, that life is not sacred, that any limitation on sexual proclivities is barbaric and that abortion is a human right.

Did you take a leadership class in medical school? How did you learn to lead? Or would you even consider yourself to be a leader? Physicians in training are expected to be leaders, yet how many of us have formal training in leadership? Maybe you’ve had opportunities to lead a sports team, participated in school clubs, held a position in student government or were a leader in your workplace prior to a career in healthcare.

I will share events surrounding the lawsuit against my university employer, insights into transgenderism, the heart of this suit and, finally, thoughts on dealing with the secular world, which has given rise to the transgender phenomenon.

Have you ever considered what your life would look like had you NOT been born in the United States? Chances are, it would look incredibly different. Allow me to introduce you to two women I recently met while serving on a short-term healthcare mission trip with CMDA’s Global Health Outreach (GHO).