The Value of Community to Servants of Christ

Drs. Gloria and Paul Halverson were the recipients of CMDA’s 2024 Servant of Christ Award. Gloria and Paul were married one week after graduation at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1973. Gloria was the first married woman ever enrolled at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and she continued to be a trailblazer when she became the first woman ever accepted into the OB/Gyn residency program at the Medical College of Wisconsin. At the same time, Paul pursued internal medicine and then rheumatology. During their years in residency around 1975, Gloria and Paul became truly born-again Christians. Paul spent the entirety of his career at the Medical College of Wisconsin, which included patient care, teaching and research. Gloria worked in private practice from 1980 until 2001, when she returned to the Medical College of Wisconsin and became a full-time professor. During this same period, they became more involved with CMDA. They both shared a heart for missions, so they began volunteering and serving as faculty and leaders with CMDA’s continuing education conference for overseas healthcare missionaries. From 2011 to 2018, they participated in short-term mission trips with Global Health Outreach. In addition, Gloria became actively engaged in Women Physicians and Dentists in Christ, a ministry of CMDA for females in healthcare. She served on the WPDC Commission and chaired the commission from 2005 to 2010. Plus, she served on the CMDA Ethics Committee and the Commission on Human Trafficking Commission. Gloria also became a member of CMDA’s Board of Trustees in 2008, serving in that capacity from 2008 to 2016, then again from 2017 to 2021. She served as President of CMDA from 2019 to 2021. They continue to serve as leaders within their local CMDA community and mentor medical students in their area, and Paul serves on CMDA’s House of Representatives. Not retired but refocused, they are both Professor Emeritus from the Medical College of Wisconsin, while Paul continues to see some rheumatology patients at a local free clinic. They continue to travel to teach others and share Christ as they do so.