Dr. White and his wife Beth have served at Tenwek Hospital for over 20 years. They have raised their five children: Adam, Andrew, Peter, James and Anna, on the mission field. With three sons now married, and the fourth engaged to be married, their family has grown! The Whites welcomed their first grandchildren, twin boys born to Adam and Rachel, in June of 2020.
Dr. Russ White
Russell E. White, MD, FACS, MPH, was born in the Belgian Congo, where his parents worked as medical missionaries. After his father’s heart attack, the family returned to northern Michigan to raise their children. Russ received his education at Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY, and the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI. He earned a Master of Public Health degree at Harvard University during his general surgery residency at Brown University Medical School, Providence, RI, made his first visit to Tenwek Hospital for six months, then completed a thoracic surgery fellowship at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, England. Throughout his graduate school and postgraduate training, Dr. White engaged in volunteer medical work in both the local community and Africa.
Dr. White, a general and thoracic surgeon on the Tenwek Hospital staff since 1997, also specializes in esophageal cancer, the most common malignancy in Kenya. He has completed extensive research on the etiology, screening, and treatment of the disease. Tenwek Hospital—which treats more than 2,000 endoscopy patients annually—has become the primary center in Kenya for the palliative and curative treatment of esophageal cancer. Through Dr. White’s leadership, Tenwek actively collaborates with numerous academic and governmental institutions in the U.S. and Africa and around the world. Dr. White was also instrumental in establishing Tenwek’s General Surgical Residency Program in 2008—one of the first surgical residencies in Kenya located outside Nairobi—and served as its program director until 2017. The program is accredited through the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) and the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). The five-year
program now has 16 active residents, graduated its first class in 2013, and now has 12 graduate general surgeons practicing in Kenya and East Africa. Since 1997, Dr. White has participated in overseeing a one-year rotating internship that accommodates another 16 Kenyan physicians and has helped develop the Family Practice Residency Program. He spearheaded the funding and construction of multiple hospital facilities to accommodate these training programs and to improve the hospital’s surgical, endoscopy, and radiology facilities. He is presently the Chief of Surgery at Tenwek Hospital.
Dr. White’s involvement in surgical education extends beyond the Kenya. He serves as an oral examiner for COSECSA and coordinates the writing of their qualifying exams; collaborates on surgical and
oncology training programs in Malawi, Zambia, and South Sudan; is active in leadership of the Kenyan Surgical Society; is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at Brown University; and supervises surgical
residents on rotations to Tenwek. He is on the staff at Rhode Island Hospital, where he works with medical students and residents.
On October 2, 2012, Dr. White was honored by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) with the 2012 Surgical Humanitarian Award. Presented by the ACS and Pfizer, the award recognizes ACS Fellows who have dedicated a substantial portion of their careers to ensuring that underserved populations receive surgical care. While this work may constitute a large part of their career, recipients have worked without expectation of commensurate financial compensation.
And, now, with this vision and plan for a “first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa” Heart Institute at Tenwek Hospital, Dr. White has established a Cardiac Surgery Fellowship and is working on a Cardiology Residency and other related training programs to address the very high incidence of rheumatic heart disease in Kenya and across Africa. The training programs have already been approved by both PAACS and COSECSA. With God’s help and the generous support of friends and donors, construction on the new Tenwek Heart Center has begun with work on resident housing. The apartments for residents are nearing completion, and excavation has begun on the medical center.
Dr. White, a general and thoracic surgeon on the Tenwek Hospital staff since 1997, also specializes in esophageal cancer, the most common malignancy in Kenya. He has completed extensive research on the etiology, screening, and treatment of the disease. Tenwek Hospital—which treats more than 2,000 endoscopy patients annually—has become the primary center in Kenya for the palliative and curative treatment of esophageal cancer. Through Dr. White’s leadership, Tenwek actively collaborates with numerous academic and governmental institutions in the U.S. and Africa and around the world. Dr. White was also instrumental in establishing Tenwek’s General Surgical Residency Program in 2008—one of the first surgical residencies in Kenya located outside Nairobi—and served as its program director until 2017. The program is accredited through the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) and the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). The five-year
program now has 16 active residents, graduated its first class in 2013, and now has 12 graduate general surgeons practicing in Kenya and East Africa. Since 1997, Dr. White has participated in overseeing a one-year rotating internship that accommodates another 16 Kenyan physicians and has helped develop the Family Practice Residency Program. He spearheaded the funding and construction of multiple hospital facilities to accommodate these training programs and to improve the hospital’s surgical, endoscopy, and radiology facilities. He is presently the Chief of Surgery at Tenwek Hospital.
Dr. White’s involvement in surgical education extends beyond the Kenya. He serves as an oral examiner for COSECSA and coordinates the writing of their qualifying exams; collaborates on surgical and
oncology training programs in Malawi, Zambia, and South Sudan; is active in leadership of the Kenyan Surgical Society; is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at Brown University; and supervises surgical
residents on rotations to Tenwek. He is on the staff at Rhode Island Hospital, where he works with medical students and residents.
On October 2, 2012, Dr. White was honored by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) with the 2012 Surgical Humanitarian Award. Presented by the ACS and Pfizer, the award recognizes ACS Fellows who have dedicated a substantial portion of their careers to ensuring that underserved populations receive surgical care. While this work may constitute a large part of their career, recipients have worked without expectation of commensurate financial compensation.
And, now, with this vision and plan for a “first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa” Heart Institute at Tenwek Hospital, Dr. White has established a Cardiac Surgery Fellowship and is working on a Cardiology Residency and other related training programs to address the very high incidence of rheumatic heart disease in Kenya and across Africa. The training programs have already been approved by both PAACS and COSECSA. With God’s help and the generous support of friends and donors, construction on the new Tenwek Heart Center has begun with work on resident housing. The apartments for residents are nearing completion, and excavation has begun on the medical center.