Research faces less red tape in the mission field, says David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations and a former missionary to Kenya. And an “enormous renaissance” in doctors doing medical missions has increased the opportunity for research. When Stevens went to Kenya in 1980, he was one of only 3 doctors at his hospital; today there are 17. “[This] gives you … more time to deal with issues and try innovative solutions.”

Mississippi pediatrician Hannah Gay has done something never accomplished before: She has apparently cured a baby born with the AIDS virus. The final verdict is still out, but the child has been off antiretroviral drugs for two and a half years, with only traces of HIV remaining.

Gay is not just a pediatrician, but also a former Southern Baptist missionary to Ethiopia. As such, she has made just one of many significant discoveries by current and former medical missionaries worldwide.

Such contributions are not new. In the 1950s and ’60s, Irish doctor Dennis Burkitt identified a new type of cancer that came to be called “Burkitt’s lymphoma” while investigating jaw tumors in Ugandan children. Jack Hough, who played a key role in the founding of global Christian health organization MAP International, was a pioneer in microscopic ear surgery. Surgeon Paul Brand earned acclaim for his innovative treatments of leprosy patients in India.

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