My mentor and professor from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, Stanley O. Foster, passed away last night after giving more than a lifetime of service to the world. As is evident in the tribute video from his retirement, I know that I am one of tens of thousands of people whose lives he has saved, lifted up, and made better. Back in late 1997, my mother had recently died of a long illness and I drove to Atlanta to meet with someone from the school’s International Health department. I generally knew I wanted to work in global health, and Dr. Foster invited me into his office. We talked for hours- about the loss of my mother, my personal interests, experiences and career ambitions. Even though the admissions process that year had closed and I wouldn’t be able to apply, he told me to go ahead and take all the classes with the other students and apply the following year. The students and teachers would treat me as if I were officially part of the class, and they would transfer all the grades over in the second year. He took a chance on me, and I can’t imagine joining a greater cohort of friends, peers and now colleagues who are doing amazing things in the world.
Upon graduation, it was again Dr. Foster who helped me choose between two job offers: one was a senior position in the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti; the other, a junior position in Malawi with Save the Children. He praised Save the Children as one of the best organizations he knew, but suggested that the chance to help children in Haiti in a leadership role was an opportunity for transformational change and that there would be other opportunities with Save the Children. I took that job in Haiti and it was one of the best experiences of my life…a few years later I joined Save the Children where I have been working in global health for the past 19 years.
At these pivotal points in my life, Dr. Foster offered time, wisdom and kindness. On the grandest scale, he accomplished things like ending smallpox in the world; but on the smallest scale, I can’t imagine my own life without him.