Dr. Robert Schindler Scholarship

Let me share about two very different experiences of recent Schindler Scholarship recipients.

After hearing about the knowledge gaps medical students in North Macedonia had, Family Medicine resident Collins Njuku felt he “had to volunteer his time to help steer younger minds towards developing and refining their clinical reasoning skills and utilize their already obtained medical knowledge efficiently.” The trip gave him the opportunity to visit and immerse himself into the meshwork of cultures there. He was able to spend almost a month taking advantage of opportunities to develop professional relationships toward future collaborations. Each daily activity revolved around teaching, rounding in hospital settings and giving didactic presentations. “Every opportunity to impact knowledge and learn from the students and medical professionals were blessings from God.” Collin summarized his experience saying, “God provided me with the knowledge to share, the patience to see what each student needed to grow and strength for me to look back at my challenges as a student in order to help the Macedonian students overcome similar challenges faster.

Neurology resident Ashley Weng joined one of Medical Education International’s (MEI) 2 annual 2 week mission teams to Mongolia. Soon after arrival she met the neurologist at First Hospital, learned about neurology training in Mongolia, and how the healthcare system worked. The next day, she visited and toured that hospital, one of the public hospitals in Ulaanbaatar, and the very first hospital to have a neurology department in Mongolia. She consulted on neurology patients for the next 4 days, spent most of the time with the attending neurologists, and read EEGs everyday with them. She gave three lectures, one lecture per day, on basic, normal, and abnormal EEGs and interesting EEG cases to about 50 people residents. On the weekend, she and the MEI team were part of a retreat for medical professionals cosponsored by MEI and Mongolian hosts. She met many healthcare workers there, some who were Christians and many who were not, and learned about their stories and struggles and got to share her faith. During the second week, sheI visited many different hospitals, including a small countryside hospital where the facilities and medical care were vastly different from that in the capital. On her busiest day. she saw 40+ patients from age 1 to age 60 with various neurological conditions from seizures and migraine to movement disorders and neurodegenerative conditions. She thoroughly enjoyed fellowship time with the team during meals and team devotions. She was also able to fellowship with many of our Mongolian Christian brothers and sisters, the Mongolian Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the Mongolian Campus Crusade for Christ group. And the Witness Mongolia Church Planting Ministry. Ashly summarized her experience by writing, “My first MEI trip to Mongolia has been immensely gratifying and memorable. This experience has helped me grow both as a Christian and as a physician. I would love to return to Mongolia again someday and I am already planning my next overseas medical mission trip. “ 

I hope these vignettes have helped you see what a blessing the Schindler Scholarship has been to its recipients and how it has helped grow their faith, exposed them to new cultural and medical experiences, and been a blessing to hosts through joint consultations and educational sessions.