Two organizations recently recognized Plano-based Texas Back Institute spine surgeon Theodore Belanger, MD, for his medical mission work, the Rockwall County Herald Banner reports.
What you should know:
1. Dr. Belanger has made an annual medical mission trip to Ethiopia since 2010. To recognize his efforts, MedicalMissions.org named Dr. Belanger its Physician of the Year and awarded him its First Humanitarian Award for a second time.
2. He thanked the organization for the honors, saying: "It's always an honor to be recognized and it's very humbling all at the same time. We do what we do because it enriches our lives and I want to give back and pay it forward."
3. Dr. Belanger is a physician team leader for the Conscience International Ethiopia Project. The group performed around nine to 11 cases on their first two-week trips. On the group's most recent two-week trip, clinicians performed 29 cases.
4. On the trips, Dr. Belanger also gets to meet with his past patients and see how they've recovered.
"I don’t think that ever, in all the years we've been doing this, that I haven't cried in the clinic seeing some of them," Dr. Belanger said. "They are lit up with a big smile and some of them I had never seen smile before that encounter."