BUIES CREEK, North Carolina – Third-year Campbell University medical student Colin Good has been accepted into the Theology, Medicine and Culture (TMC) Fellowship at Duke University. While his classmates matriculate into their fourth year rotations later this summer at CU affiliate hospitals in five locations across North Carolina, Good will begin the fellowship at Duke and will complete his final year of medical school in 2018.
The Duke fellowship is led by two physicians, Dr. Farr Curlin and Dr. Warren Kinghorn, and “creates opportunities for students, clergy, and health care practitioners to reimagine and to re-engage contemporary practices of health care in light of Christian tradition and the practices of Christian communities.” Upon completion of the fellowship, Good will have earned a Master of Arts in Christian Studies from Duke University.
Initially drawn to pursuing a career in medicine through family experiences with palliative care, Good believes true healing involves treating the mind, body and spirit, and he is vested in addressing the physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering patients experience.
“The fellowship creates a place to dig deeper into the questions Christian healthcare professionals have regarding integrating their professional calling with their more fundamental identity as followers of Jesus,” said Good. “Our country is at a point where we are often uncomfortable with the intersection of religion and medicine at large – we are often asked to see healthcare and religion as separate, but I think all Christian professionals desire to see people restored to hope and wholeness.”
“I am interested in exploring creative solutions for addressing these areas where medicine has fallen short,” continued Good. “The TMC fellowship affords me the opportunity to have formal theological training and explore how Christians in healthcare vocations can take part of the larger Church’s mission to bring the Good News to others while responding to the hurts, suffering and brokenness within an individual’s unique context as well as within entire communities. I am excited to have this time I can devote to community, study and exploration with other healthcare students and professionals who share similar passions to see patients wholly transformed.”
The medical education Good has received over the past three years at Campbell University has provided him hands-on experiences in seeing the relief these considerations provide to patients through palliative care and medical missions including a month on an international rotation in China in 2015.
“From the beginning, Colin has been very clear about his call into medicine and missions,” shared Charlotte Paolini, chair of family medicine at Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine. “He has been very focused and careful to get the experience needed for equipping himself to reach his goal successfully prepared to do the work that God has called him to do. He is a man of faith and focus. He is impressive in his pursuit to do all things well. I have no doubt that Colin Good will contribute much to change the world for God’s glory.”
“My experiences in China and on the mission filed are intimately linked to my interest in the fellowship. Serving in a variety of global contexts and communities alongside long-term workers has given me insight into some of the unique challenges and opportunities that exist in bridging health, medicine and people’s belief systems,” said Good.
“My hope is that through this Fellowship, I can come away with creative tools for responding to many of the unique challenges healthcare in the 21st century faces in providing care across belief systems and cultures. It is not about my beliefs as the physician – it becomes about meeting the needs of those seeking help and hope. I want to encourage others to not leave their beliefs at the backdoor, because the message we profess has significance – it responds to needs beyond what medicine is capable of doing alone. We are in a position to respond to both!”
“These are complicated topics and questions surrounding health, illness and human suffering, so to be able to take this time of study and exploration at Duke regarding how to train others to be comfortable engaging the difficult questions that intrinsically occur as being agents of hope in healthcare is a gift that I don’t plan to take for granted.”