Beyond Ebola: Doximity and Doctors Without Borders Work to Fight Infectious Disease

Finding physicians with specific clinical expertise to work in conflict zones and during disease outbreaks is a unique challenge for recruiters at Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF). The humanitarian aid organization, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, relies on 30,000 doctors, nurses and staff working in 70 countries every single day. 

Finding physicians with specific clinical expertise to work in conflict zones and during disease outbreaks is a unique challenge for recruiters at Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF). The humanitarian aid organization, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, relies on 30,000 doctors, nurses and staff working in 70 countries every single day. 

Together, Doximity and Doctors Without Borders have begun working to recruit physicians for field operations, starting with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) projects. MSF is able to access advanced search tools on Doximity’s platform of 300,000+ US physicians to find specific areas of clinical expertise, languages spoken and international experience and can then outreach to the best candidates to fill their most pressing roles. 

Click to Tweet: Beyond Ebola: @Doximity + @MSF_USA team up to find physicians for #infectiousdisease field work

Physicians delivering care where it matters most

MSF is currently seeking infectious disease physicians through Doximity. Physicians should be prepared for a minimum of 9 to 12 months of field work, have experience working/traveling outside the US and have some surgical and obstetrical experience. In addition to the infectious disease campaign, Doximity and MSF are reaching out to physicians across a broad variety of specialties to educate them about opportunities for medical aid work around the world.

A broad view beyond Ebola

According to Bloomberg News, “MSF has been the first – and often only – line of defense against Ebola in West Africa.” While the disease is a serious issue abroad, the extensive press coverage in the United States implies a risk to Americans that is far greater than actually exists. A search on Google News for US media coverage mentioning “Ebola” in just the last month yields no less than 30 million results. 

While MSF continues to lead toward a control of the Ebola outbreak, the need for physicians to work on projects with less-publicized diseases continues. In 2012, 8.6 million people fell ill with TB and 1.3 million died from the disease. In the same year, 35 million people were living with HIV/AIDS and 1.6 million died from the virus. 

For physicians like myself, who may feel frustrated with the level of anxious coverage related to Ebola in the US and its impact on patients, supporting MSF can be a pragmatic outlet for good. I encourage our community on Doximity to consider a field assignment with the organization, and to donate to Doctors Without Borders so that they can continue their excellent work promotion global health.

Click to Tweet: Physicians: @Doximity and @MSF_USA need you to join the fight against infectious disease

Peter Alperin, MD is an internal medicine physician practicing at San Francisco’s VA Medical Center, and VP/GM, Connectivity Solutions at Doximity. Email research@doximity.com for more data on our work with Doctors Without Borders or physician perspectives on Ebola.

Editor’s note (10/23/2014, 11:02AM): An earlier version of this article included the following: “As an internet meme has reminded us, more Americans have been married to Kim Kardashian than have died of Ebola. Let’s keep things in perspective.”