LUMEN Summer 2020 - Flipbook - Page 6
He worked hard in school to get
into medicine, and then throughout
University at Adelaide Medical
School, with his sights set firmly on
becoming a surgeon.
In the fifth year of his medical
degree, James went to Kenya for
an elective – it was a life-changing
experience.
“I came across this little rural
hospital in the mountains, a place
called Tumu Tumu. There were a
couple of Aussie ‘med’ students there
who invited me to come and have a
look, and I just fell in love with the
place. It was beautiful and I thought,
one day I'd love to come back and
work here,” he said.
After completing an internship at the
Royal Adelaide Hospital and having
become disillusioned and unsatisfied
in treating patients with mainly selfinflicted diseases, James returned to
Kenya and the little hospital where
he could make a real difference.
“I went straight back there and
had a transformative year...we had
such positive outcomes mostly,
treating diseases that you could
actually do something about, and
"To be surrounded
by children who are
blind and disfigured
irreversibly from
measles was absolutely
gobsmacking, and the
whole team involved
was quite emotionally
impacted by this.”
4
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
