HELPING HANDS Philanthropic Physician

by Lucy Weir Class of 2023

Eleven years ago, Dr. Mary B. Taylor made her first trip to Kenya. She was accompanied by a team of roughly twenty specialists including cardiologists, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, heart surgeons, biomedical engineers, and nurses. They went to Africa primarily to treat teens with rheumatic heart diseases, but quickly, they recognized an immense lack in pediatric cardiac care. Filling this need became Dr. Taylor’s personal calling.

A Natchez native, Dr. Taylor studied at Southern Methodist University, earned her M.D. at UMMC, and specialized in pediatric cardiac critical care at Vanderbilt and Boston’s Children’s Hospital. She currently serves as Chair of Pediatrics at Children’s of Mississippi Hospital. Before being the first woman to hold her current position, Dr. Taylor served as Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care and Pediatric Cardiology at Batson. Most professionals would be content with these accomplishments, but Dr. Taylor chose to dedicate her talents to a philanthropic, Christian mission. There is a saying, “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” Dr. Taylor and her team personify this proverb.

Cooperating with The Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization, she now travels to Tenwek Hospital two weeks per year with a rotating team of colleagues. Their goal is to perform complicated surgeries on pediatric patients, educate Kenyan medical staff, and supply hospital support. Education produces a ripple effect in the community, which allows for more life-saving treatments to emerge. Dr. Taylor says that serving in Kenya has been “a bigger blessing to me than it is to the patients,” and the experience gives her a greater appreciation for America’s medical system.

Dr. Taylor cares deeply for her patient’s physical and spiritual needs; before each operation, the patients are prayed over. Such care reinforces Tenwek Hospital’s core message: “We treat, Jesus heals.”

Although Dr. Taylor has faced challenges during her missions (including one fire), she perseveres. The hardest aspect, she maintains, is having to choose which patients to treat. Limited time and resources make it impossible to care for everyone. She recognizes the sacrifice and commitment of parents who travel miles on foot in hopes of having a sick child treated.

Likewise, her mission has become a family affair. Dr. Taylor’s husband, Michael, travels with her and oversees logistics. He also delivers medical equipment to remote areas around the hospital. One of her daughters, Cille, through a Prep MAD project, collected soccer balls for Kenyan children who were being treated at the hospital. Dr. Taylor remains inspired to continue her work in Kenya because, “You never know what that one life saved is going to accomplish.”