The Wayne State University School of Medicine's Ingida Asfaw, M.D., F.A.C.S., recently received the American College of Surgeons' 2013 Pfizer Surgical Volunteerism Award for his outreach to the medically underserved in developing countries.
"It was an honor and I feel fortunate to have been recognized," Dr. Asfaw said.
A surgeon, Dr. Asfaw joined the Wayne State University School of Medicine faculty in 1974 as an assistant professor of surgery. He is now a clinical associate professor in the Department of Surgery, and was one of four surgical award recipients honored at the 2013 ACS Clinical Congress, which took place Oct. 6-10 in Washington, D.C.
The awardees are determined by the ACS Board of Governors' Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards Workgroup. School of Medicine alumnus Jerone Landstrom, M.D., Class of 1981 and a student of Dr. Asfaw's at one time, also received one of the four awards given, for his military outreach.
Dr. Asfaw, a Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., resident, was born in Ethiopia, and moved to the United States at age 16. He received his medical degree from Indiana University Medical School in 1967, and completed residencies in general surgery and thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at WSU and the Detroit Medical Center.
After graduation, Dr. Asfaw intended to return to Ethiopia to provide health care services, but couldn't because of political unrest. Instead, he arranged for Ethiopians in need of cardiac surgery and other non-cardiac medical procedures not available in Ethiopia to be flown to Detroit, where he provided free medical services and covered hospital costs out of his personal funds, the ACS said in a news release about the awards.
In 1999, he founded the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association, and is still president. The group was created to improve health care access, delivery and quality of care for the country's citizens, specifically related to surgery, HIV/AIDS and maternal-child health.
In 2003, Dr. Asfaw and ENAHPA's team helped perform Ethiopia's first open-heart operation, cardiac pacemaker implant and laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a surgery to remove the gallbladder and gallstones.
The group also played an important role in developing programs such as sponsorship of orphans affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS and more than 40 medical and surgical missions to Ethiopia. The ENAHPA care team has performed more than 3,000 procedures.
Dr. Asfaw is a member of the Academy of Surgery of Detroit, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Heart Association, Ethiopian Medical Association and International Association for Cardiac Biological Implants and a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Wayne County Medical Society, Michigan State Medical Society and Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons. He also has received the Volvo for Life America's Greatest Hometown Hero Award, the Eastern Mennonite University Alumnus of the Year award and The Michigan Chronicle's Distinguished Detroiter award for his humanitarian work.
Dr. Asfaw has three children, including daughter Zewditu Asfaw, M.D., a surgeon who recently completed her WSU/DMC general surgery residency.