Rodney L. Belcher, a leading contributor to third-world orthopaedics, was tragically killed in an automobile hijacking outside the office of the Orthopedic Department at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, on March 11, 1996. He was sixty-four years old.
Rod was born on November 2, 1931, in Roanoke, Virginia, and was raised in that area. He attended St. John's High School in Washington, D.C.; took his premedical curriculum at Notre Dame; and received his M.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1956. In 1957, after completing his internship on the Georgetown University Service at the D.C. General Hospital, he entered the United States Navy as an active reservist and became a flight surgeon. After his three-year commitment was completed, he entered the orthopaedic program at the Mayo Clinic, finishing in 1963. He was in private practice in Arlington, Virginia, from 1963 to 1970, and also served as Director of Orthopedic Education at Arlington Hospital, Georgetown University, from 1963 to 1970.
Rod dedicated a total of twelve years to the teaching of orthopaedics in East Africa, starting at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He reorganized and then headed the trauma unit at Muhembili Hospital from 1970 to 1972. He then returned to private practice in Arlington. From 1974 to 1976, he was Chief of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Arlington Hospital, obtaining the rank of Clinical Assistant Professor.
Rod returned to East Africa after his two sons left for college. From 1983 to 1985, he was a visiting Fulbright Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Makere University in Kampala. Increasing violence in the civil war forced him to leave Uganda, and he completed his fellowship at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, in 1986.
After returning from his Fulbright fellowship in 1987, he became a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, as well as Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at Cooper Green Hospital and Jefferson Clinic in Birmingham.
In 1989, after peace and stability were re-established in Uganda, Rod was appointed Professor and Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery at Makere University. There, he sought to fulfill his dream of rebuilding the orthopaedic and rehabilitation services, which originally had been developed to a sophisticated level by Professor Ronald Huckstep but had been devastated by the two-decade-long civil war. Rod redeveloped and upgraded the training of orthopaedic assistants; because of the shortage of more skilled individuals, these assistants are the primary caregivers for patients who have fractures in many up-country facilities, and they also serve as cast technicians and primary non-operative caregivers to numerous children who have clubfoot. Rod also restarted programs for the manufacture of orthoses and prostheses, with the use of inexpensive local material, and for the proper fitting of these devices. He then extended these services to rural areas.
Rod designed and then supervised the building of the best operating theater in sub-Saharan Africa, again using his extensive and very practical knowledge of how to make things work with inexpensive yet functional tools and equipment. Such a modern, practical operating facility allowed for the proper training of postgraduate orthopaedic students and the effective use of volunteer surgeons supplied through Orthopedics Overseas. This organization has given inspiration and focus to medical students, interns, and surgical residents in Uganda for the last six years.
Within the last three years, Rod also planned and supervised the building of a guest house, which offers the health-care providers of Health Volunteers Overseas a safe and comfortable residence immediately across the street from the main hospital.
In addition to his impact on the teaching of orthopaedics, Rod made a major contribution to the Ugandan national commitment to improving the delivery of health care not only to the people in the capital of Kampala but also to those living in the more remote parts of the country. This impact could be seen in his efforts to promote general medical education through supporting and advising the Dean of the School of Medicine as well as in his leadership and support of various fund-raising activities, particularly the President's Polio Appeal and various Rotarian projects.
Perhaps his crowning achievement was the initiation of a four-year orthopaedic training program leading to a Master's degree; in Africa, this degree is comparable to completion of the requirements for the American Boards. This is the first graduate-level orthopaedic program in the country and serves as a model for all sub-Saharan Africa. It provides a curriculum comparable with American and Western European standards.
Both Rod and his wife were members of the Baha'i faith. His wide-ranging interests included flying (he was a licensed private pilot), fishing, automobiles, and sports-car racing. He was also an avid reader.
As all who have worked in such an environment realize, Rod's commitment to improving orthopaedic care in East Africa involved frequent frustration and loneliness. At such times, the support of his wife and constant companion, Dawn, was critical. She survives him, along with their sons, Mark, an anesthesiologist, and Christopher, a banker.
Rod's funeral was attended by several hundreds of Ugandans whose lives the "Professor" had touched by his enormous energy and dedication to their own and their country's well-being.
D. D.
L. G.