One of the highlights of the commencement ceremony is the awarding of honorary degrees to individuals for outstanding accomplishments and service the world. This year, President Vincent Price conferred bestowed degrees upon a medical missionary, a scientist turned entrepreneur, a former NASA engineer who led the Girl Scouts and a Nigerian economist who is working to improve lives across Africa.
TOM CATENA
Tom Catena is the medical director and sole surgeon at Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains of central Sudan—the only referral surgical hospital in an area the size of Austria with a population of over a million people.
When civil war broke out in Sudan in 2011 and the hospital was bombed, Dr. Catena refused to leave, arguing that doing so would be like saying his life was more important than the lives of his patients. Despite active confrontation, he continues to treat hundreds of patients a day for everything from disease, cancer, malnutrition, and injuries and wounds from the civil war.
Dr. Catena began his medical career in the United States Navy, serving four years as a flight surgeon. Following his residency, he spent six years at hospitals in Kenya, before moving to Sudan in 2007 to co-found the hospital he leads to this day. For his courageous efforts, he has been named as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people.
I am exceptionally proud that Tom is a 1992 graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine, and he is a past recipient of the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award.