Heart Is Easy, Soft Is Hard: How Two Surgeons Built Kenya’s Only Open-Heart Program
What does it take to build one of the most advanced cardiac surgery centers in East Africa — from a napkin sketch to a 400,000-square-foot hospital treating hundreds of open-heart patients a year? In this episode of Faith in Healthcare, host Dr. Mike Chupp sits down with two of his closest friends and former colleagues, Dr. Russ White and Dr. Carol Spears, both veteran missionary surgeons at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. Together they helped launch Tenwek’s general surgery residency nearly 30 years ago — and have now returned to lead its brand-new Cardiothoracic Center.
In this conversation, they share:
- Why only 5% of Kenyans who need cardiac surgery currently receive it — and how Tenwek is changing that
- The journey from a single operating room to a state-of-the-art six-theater cardiac facility
- How the PAACS training program has produced 48 surgeons and physicians serving across Africa
- The hospital’s guiding philosophy — “We treat, Jesus heals” — and what it looks like to minister to patients’ hearts, both physical and spiritual
- A candid, moving story of walking through loss as a hospital community
- The urgent, ongoing need for cardiologists, surgeons, and missionaries willing to serve
This is a story of medicine, mentorship, and unwavering faith — and a firsthand look at how God can use “broken vessels” to build something extraordinary.
🎥 Watch the full video interview, including facility footage, on YouTube.
🙏 Learn more about CMDA and how you can support faith-integrated healthcare around the world at cmda.org.
One thing that anyone can do is pray for the work specifically at Tenwek Hospital and at the Tenwek Cardiac Cardiothoracic Center that God will continue to see them through and provide what they need.
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If you practice in an environment where you may be required to defend your Biblical values to either followers of Jesus or non-believers, Standing Strong in Practice will help you effectively communicate your perspective in a winsome, Christ-like manner.
Video Podcast:
Meet Our Guest(s):
Dr. Carol Spears, missionary General Surgeon, has been following God wherever He leads for many years now. That journey includes serving for many years in Africa at AGC Tenwek Hospital as a General Surgeon and a leader of the PAACS General Surgery Residency Program. She followed God’s call to serve Muslim people and especially Muslim women by serving 4 and ½ years in the Middle East as a General Surgeon. Since September 2024, Carol has returned to serve in Kenya at the new Tenwek Cardiothoracic Centre as Manager of Clinical Services.
Carol is a second career physician, having worked for several years in the business world in the telecommunications industry before following God’s call to go to medical school. Carol has seen God’s faithfulness and grace and provision over the course of her life. She desires to encourage those that God is raising up to continue His kingdom work.
Dr. Russ White was born in the Belgian Congo to medical missionary parents. He attended Roberts Wesleyan College, the University of Michigan School of Medicine, and the Harvard University School of Public Health. He completed a general surgical residency at Brown University and a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery in Bristol, England. He is the Director of the new AGC Tenwek Hospital Cardiothoracic Center in Kenya, where he has worked full-time since 1997. He is a clinical professor of surgery at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. His passion is for teaching and mentoring young Christian African surgeons both in the art and science of cardiothoracic surgery, and leading lives as Christ-followers that are pleasing and honoring to God. He has special interests in cancer of the esophagus and rheumatic heart disease and has published widely in these fields.
