Henri Ford

Henri Ronald Ford[1] is a Haitian-American[2] pediatric surgeon. He previously served as chief of surgery at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Vice Dean for Medical Education at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He is currently appointed Dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, effective 1 June 2018. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Ford returned to Haiti to provide medical assistance to earthquake victims.

Not to be confused with Henry Ford.

Henri Ford and Sanjay Gupta operate on a 12-year-old girl.

Background

Ford was born in Haiti and spent his early years in Port-au-Prince.[3] His father was a preacher who spoke out against inequality in Haitian society. When Henri was 13 years old,[4] he fled with his family from the government of Papa Doc Duvalier,[3] settling among the Haitian community in Brooklyn, New York.[4] Ford graduated from John Jay High School despite speaking no English when he first arrived.[5]

Ford graduated with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1980 after completing a 144-page long senior thesis titled "In search of Refuge: Profile of the Haitian Community in Princeton."[6] He received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1984. He completed his surgical internship and residency at Weill Cornell Medical College. He also completed a research fellowship in immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Department of Surgery.[7]

In 2009, Ford received a Master of Health Administration degree from the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California.[7] Since July 2010 he has been a Trustee of Princeton University.[8][9]

Career

From 1993 to 2005, Ford was an attending surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) and on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He was surgeon-in-chief at CHP and chief of the division of pediatric surgery at the medical school. In 2005 he became vice president and chief of surgery at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and joined the faculty of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.[10] Ford later said he moved to East Los Angeles to serve a population in greater need than the Pittsburgh population and that he turned down a large salary increase Pitt offered to retain him.[11] He was appointed Vice Dean for Medical Education at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in 2008.[12] He is currently president of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA), and he was awarded one of the rarest and most prestigious international milestones for a surgeon—an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), the organization's highest award. He has been named Dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, effective 1 June 2018.

Ford has done groundbreaking research on the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis.[5] According to CHLA, he has written over 300 research publications. He served as President of the Association for Academic Surgery from 2002 to 2003[7] and is the immediate past President of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, having served in that post 2010–11.[13] He is a fellow of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Surgeons.[7]

Work in Haiti
Ford (second from left) with Sanjay Gupta (third from left) and two U.S. Navy doctors operating on a twelve-year-old girl aboard the USS Carl Vinson[14]

In 1997 Ford made his first visit to Haiti following his family's escape. He later described being horrified by the abject poverty and the poor conditions at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti.[4] He returned several times in the 1990s as a visiting doctor.[3]

After his sister called the conditions in Haiti following the earthquake of 12 January 2010, "apocalyptic",[3] Ford contacted a friend at the U.S. State Department to offer help. By 16 January he was in Haiti with the U.S. government's emergency rescue team.[15][16] His brothers Billy Ford and Jean Ford, also doctors, soon joined him in Haiti to treat earthquake victims.[17]

At first Ford operated on patients in a closet at the U.S. Embassy, but when one boy's injuries proved too serious to treat there he and the boy flew by helicopter to the USS Carl Vinson. After operating on the boy, Ford remained aboard the Carl Vinson treating other pediatric patients.[18] In one case, he removed a piece of concrete from a girl's skull with the help of two U.S. Navy doctors and Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN medical correspondent.[19][20]

After returning to land, Ford helped the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO) set up a field hospital at the soccer field on the campus of Université Quisqueya in Port-au-Prince. He treated patients at the field hospital and spread word about it in the streets of Port-au-Prince, recruiting patients and health care workers from the population.[2][15][18] Referring to his work for the GHESKIO hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College called Ford "invaluable", saying he "served both as a skilled surgeon and as a bridge between the United States and Haitian medical teams."[21] WebMD named Ford and three others, including Gupta, "Haiti Health Heroes".[22]

Ford spent two weeks in Haiti during his initial visit following the earthquake.[23] He returned eight times within a year of the quake to continue his medical work.[3]


References
  1. Peitzman, Andrew B.; Rhodes, Michael; Schwab, C. William; Yealy, Donald M.; Fabian, Timothy C., eds. (2007). The Trauma Manual: Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. xiii. ISBN 9780781762755.
  2. Ono, David (20 January 2010). "Haitian-American L.A. doc opens clinic in Haiti". KABC-TV. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  3. Jacobsen, Annie (10 January 2011). "Dr. Henri Ford's Haitian relief efforts". Los Angeles Times Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  4. Horn, Dottie (January 2003). "Carefully tended" (PDF). PittMed. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 5 (1). Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  5. Baum, Joan (February 2006). "Dr. Henri Ford, pediatric surgeon extraordinaire". Education Update: 5. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  6. Ford, Henri Ronald (1980). "In search of Refuge: Profile of the Haitian Community in Princeton". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. "Henri R. Ford, MD, MHA". Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  8. Quiñones, Eric (8 June 2010). "Eight named to Board of Trustees". Princeton University. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  9. Princeton University. "Board of Trustees 2011–12". Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  10. Rutledge, Steve (20 December 2004). "Pediatric surgeon assumes CHLA post". University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  11. Gropman, Adam (19 May 2011). "Henri Ford: doctor sans frontieres". LA Weekly. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  12. Neith, Katie (22 August 2008). "Henri Ford named vice dean for medical education of Keck School of Medicine". University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  13. Society of Black Academic Surgeons. "Past Presidents of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  14. "Haiti struggles with death and destruction after catastrophic earthquake". LIFE. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  15. Silberner, Joanne (29 January 2010). "A doctor returns to his homeland to help". NPR. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  16. Hood, A. "CHLA surgeon reports from Haiti". Beverley Hills Courier. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  17. Strauss, Robert (28 April 2010). "Healing Haiti". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  18. Ford, Henri R. (2011). "Answering the call to action: response to the Haiti earthquake of January 12, 2010". Surgical Infections. 12 (2): 89–98. doi:10.1089/sur.2011.9920. PMID 21453040. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  19. Thompson, Jason (18 January 2010). "Sanjay Gupta assists Vinson medical team". U.S. Navy. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  20. Agence France-Presse (20 January 2011). "TV neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta saves girl". The Australian. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  21. Weill Cornell Medical College. "Thanks to Dr. Henri Ford". Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  22. WebMD. "Haiti Health Heroes: Saving the children: Henri Ford, MD". Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  23. Ono, David (15 July 2010). "Haiti six months later: hope in a hospital". KABC-TV. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
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