#40 - Tom Catena, M.D.: The world’s most important doctor – to nearly a million patients – saving countless lives in the war-torn and remote villages of Sudan

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.7 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2019

⏱️ 162 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Tom Catena, a missionary physician who runs Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, describes some of his extraordinary work as the only doctor in a remote, war-torn region of Africa. In terms of individual lives saved, you could argue that there is no other person on the front lines doing more than Tom. Additionally, we explore the manner in which the Nuba people die, which is in striking contrast the ubiquity of chronic disease and self-harm in the west, despite the extreme poverty and unimaginable suffering experienced by the Nuba people. Lastly, we discuss the lessons to be gleaned from the Nuba people, who despite their suffering, live so harmoniously, happily, and resiliently. To support Tom’s mission please visit www.amhf.us.

We discuss:

Background, medical training, and early days of missionary work in Africa [9:00];
Tom arrives at Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, civil war breaks out, and his staff evacuates [15:45];
Learning surgery on the job and earning the trust of the community [40:45];
The amazing people of Nuba, and why Nuba feels like home to Tom [51:30];
NY Times article about Tom’s work, and Tom’s new venture on the board of Aurora Prize Foundation bringing awareness and funding to other missionaries doing great work [1:03:30];
Tom’s mind-blowing ability to deal with chaos while seeing hundreds of patients per day [1:15:45];
The most afraid Tom has ever been, and how he copes with the emotional trauma of his daily experiences [1:23:30];
The basic tools, technologies, and medicines that Tom is lacking that could save many lives [1:33:30];
The logistical challenge of helping Tom’s hospital, and what Tom really needs [1:39:15];
Diseases in the adult population [1:42:30];
Living without possessions, finding meaning, and being a missionary [1:59:30];
Sense of purpose, happiness, and suicide: Contrasting the US with Nuba [2:11:00];
Other than donations, is there a way people can help Tom and other similar causes? [2:19:15];
The food in Nuba [2:22:30];
Tom’s annual bout of malaria [2:27:30];
Patients that Tom will never forget [2:29:45];
Resources for people wanting to get involved in helping Tom’s work [2:34:45];
Peter tells a story that defines Tom [2:36:00]; and
More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, welcome to the Peter Atia Drive. I'm your host, Peter Atia.
0:10.0	The drive is a result of my hunger for optimizing performance, health, longevity, critical thinking,
0:15.7	along with a few other obsessions along the way. I've spent the last several years working
0:19.6	with some of the most successful top performing individuals in the world, and this podcast
0:23.8	is my attempt to synthesize what I've learned along the way to help you live a higher quality
0:28.3	more fulfilling life. If you enjoy this podcast, you can find more information on today's
0:32.4	episode and other topics at peteratiamd.com.
0:35.3	Hey everybody, welcome to this week's episode of The Drive. I'd like to take a couple of
0:45.6	minutes to talk about why we don't run ads on this podcast and why instead we've chosen
0:50.2	to rely entirely on listener support. If you're listening to this, you probably already know,
0:55.3	but the two things I care most about professionally are how to live longer and how to live better.
1:01.3	I have a complete fascination and obsession with this topic. I practice it professionally,
1:06.3	and I've seen firsthand how access to information is basically all people need to make better
1:11.0	decisions and improve the quality of their lives. Curating and sharing this knowledge
1:15.6	is not easy, and even before starting the podcast, that became clear to me. The sheer volume
1:20.4	of material published in this space is overwhelming. I'm fortunate to have a great team that helps
1:25.6	me continue learning and sharing this information with you. To take one example, our show notes
1:31.0	are in a league of their own. In fact, we now have a full-time person that is dedicated
1:35.3	to producing those, and the feedback has mirrored this. So all of this raises a natural
1:40.7	question. How will we continue to fund the work necessary to support this? As you probably
1:46.2	know, the tried and true way to do this is to sell ads, but after a lot of contemplation,
1:51.9	that model just doesn't feel right to me for a few reasons. Now, the first and most
	...

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