Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Medical Bridges
Dr. Patricia Brock: wife, mother, physician and global health advocate is the founder of Medical Bridges, a nonprofit group that donates surplus medical supplies to developing countries. It was founded in 1997.
She was born and raised in Madison, Ind. and studied nursing and graduated magna cum laude from Ball State University. After four years in the nursing profession, Dr. Brock returned to school to finish her pre-med requirements. Dr. Brock graduated from The University of Louisville School Of Medicine in 1983 and began her surgical training at Parkland Hospital in Dallas at The University of Texas program and completed her training at the UT Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. After a 10-year career as a general surgeon and four children later, Dr. Brock turned her energies to raising her growing family. It was during this hiatus that the idea for Medical Bridges was born. After returning from a trip to El Salvador, where she witnessed an incredible lack of basic medical supplies, Dr. Brock was determined to address this shortage all too prevalent in the developing world. Armed with the knowledge that an estimated $9 billion in medical surplus is produced annually in the United States, Dr. Brock founded Medical Bridges.
Since its inception, Medical Bridges has served more than 80 countries, distributed close to $60 million dollars worth of medical supplies and equipment by hand-held shipments and ocean freight containers to mission teams, individuals, clinics, and hospitals in the developing world serving in low resource settings.
Dr. Brock has had a lifelong interest in the global health issues, from her early readings about the Asian and African missionaries to a stent at studying about international public health matters at The UT School of Public Health.
She has been actively involved her church’s mission committee, and other nonprofit endeavors over the years, including Aid Sudan, House of Charity, and the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons .
Dr. Brock returned to the practice of medicine working in the ER of Ben Taub Hospital for six years and now serves as Assistant Professor at the MD Anderson Cancer Center working in their very busy and dynamic ER.
She served as Chairman of the Board of Medical Bridges for 15 years and now continues to be actively involved as Chairman Emeritus.
Her latest involvement has been cofounding the Houston Global Health Collaborative, which seeks to unite and connect individuals, groups and member institutions of the Texas Medical Center, along with those of the greater Houston area to address the global health challenges of our time through commitment to global health education, research and service.
