Daniel V. Hagan, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Division of Basic Medical Sciences, MUSM, participated during February in a two-week medical mission trip to the Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College & Hospital in Karakonam, Tirvandrum (state of Kerala), India.

Hagan was one of eight members of the medical mission team, led by Van Cise Knowles, M.D., a surgeon, and Jan Rodd, R.N. The team also consisted of two additional registered nurses, Sheila Phillips and Leslie Bunch; a physician assistant in anesthesia, Jim Wright; a physical therapist, Marissa Harvey; and a pastor/chaplain, the Rev. Scott Hagan, who is associate pastor of Albany First United Methodist Church and Professor Dan Hagan’s son.

While the most of the mission team members were involved with surgeries and physical therapies, Hagan taught and compared notes with the faculty of the College, especially those in the basic medical science departments of Physiology, Biochemistry, and Anatomy. Faculty and administrators were particularly interested in learning more about Mercer University School of Medicine’s most successful practice based learning (PBL) mode of teaching. Hagan taught classes on the basic medical sciences, covering endocrinology, pulmonology, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal systems, for the first- and second-year medical classes.

He was privileged to observe surgery, including the use of the anesthesiology equipment and procedures in the operating rooms of the teaching hospital. It was a most enriching experience to participate on this mission team to this medically underserved area.

The medical school in Karakonam admitted its inaugural class in 2003 and will graduate its first class this year. The school accepts 100 students for each medical class and admits students as young as age 17. Students who completed the four-and-a-half-year academic curriculum receive the Bachelor of Medicine/ Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree.

A 1992 recipient of the Dean Day Smith Award for Humanitarian Service, Hagan is a 2004 George F. Hixson - Kiwanis International Fellow. He has participated on short-term mission teams to Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic.

The Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College & Hospital in Karakonam was founded in 1897, accepts charity cases and private pay patients. It is operated by the Church of South India (CSI), which has a membership of 3.8 million and is a union of 14,000 churches in the area of varying traditions: Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed. Of the 3 million people living in Trivandrum, the population is comprised of 68 percent Hindus, 18 percent Christian, and 13 percent Muslim.

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