Dr. Aubyn Marath
I met Dr. Aubyn Marath in 2006 when I participated in my first CardioStart mission to Arequipa, Peru. He seemed attractive, energetic, and visionary. In the subsequent six years, I have come to see him as the most altruistic, compassionate, and humanitarian person I have ever met.
Much of my relationship with Aubyn has taken place in clinical settings. His approach to complex clinical problems is thoughtful and resourceful. For patients with complex congenital heart disease, Aubyn draws from a wealth of clinical and surgical experience offering fresh insight into technical solutions of complicated problems. He is the same way with the CardioStart organization. It seems his deep humanitarian instincts drive him to think out-of-the-box and to seek solutions that had not been previously considered.
Bridging the Gap of Heart Disease
And that is the way it is with CardioStart. Thirty years ago, an explosion of medical and cardiovascular surgical technology produced a dramatic decline in cardiovascular mortality in the United States and other industrialized countries. Unfortunately for some, that explosion did not occur where cardiovascular disease was most prevalent. Aubyn saw that the highest prevalence in cardiovascular disease occurs in segments of the world without access to the new lifesaving technologies and therapeutics. Under Aubyn’s leadership, CardioStart has successfully bridged that gap.
CardioStart’s accomplishment in the last 25 years is simple but remarkable. We have created a cost-effective, sustainable, self-perpetuating model wherein underprivileged and underserved patients with life-threatening cardiovascular disease have access to state-of-the art cardiovascular technology. At the same time, CardioStart has created a vehicle for the nurture of altruism amidst an epidemic of disillusionment that now plagues the modern American healthcare provider. It is a win-win situation. Volunteers on CardioStart missions uniformly proclaim a sense of rejuvenation, value clarification, and increased conscious awareness as a consequence of participating in a CardioStart mission. The patients whose lives have been favorably changed by corrective cardiovascular surgery are deeply grateful.
Dr. Tom Hilton at Peru orphanage
In summary, I’m a better person for having met Aubyn Marath six years ago. The opportunities created by Aubyn and CardioStart have inspired me to be a better physician, a better citizen of the world, a better steward of the public trust. Please send your comments to cardiostart.org as we applaud the enormous efforts and sacrifices made by this extraordinary man over the last 25 years.
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