“I don’t know what God had for me in mind,” said Dr. Henry Paul last month at the fundraiser for his medical mission to northern Haiti — he leaves June 27. But, Dr. Paul is actually doing it.
In 2008, Dr. Paul founded the medical mission group NOAH NY (National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians) that yearly travels to northern Haiti to provide healthcare in the Ft. Liberte area. Five years ago, they partnered with Howard University and the Haitian government.
Last summer, the traveling team numbered more than 85 doctors, nurses, and medical students to deliver medical services including major and minor surgeries to over 3,000 residents in the region.
Following the 2010 earthquake, NOAH NY participated in the relief efforts in Port-au-Prince. This month the organization will inaugurate its new Urgent Care Center in Caracol, Haiti.
Dr. Paul emigrated from Haiti to Chicago with his family at age 11. After receiving his B.S. in Biology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and his MD from Ross University in Dominica, he completed his internal medicine residency at the Jersey Shore Medical Center.
He pursued his fellowship in Nephrology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and has always maintained his practice in underserved neighborhoods. He practices in Brooklyn as an attending physician at the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, SUNY Downstate Medical Center as an assistant professor of medicine in the Renal Diseases Division and also at New York Methodist Hospital.
“Growing up, my mom was a midwife and nurse in charge at the Chancerelle Hospital in Port-au-Prince,” he says. “On weekends, she would take me to visit the hospital. She was my inspiration and a big influence on my career.”
