As Gretchen Birbeck visits the homes of her patients in the African nation of Zambia, the truck she uses to travel between the homes becomes increasingly crowded — with livestock.
Birbeck has received goats, chickens and an occasional piglet from patients wanting to thank the MSU neurologist and epidemiologist for her care.
“The first house you will stop at to check on how the patient is doing will give you a goat or chicken,” Birbeck said.
“I’ve become an expert at riding with goats or chickens in my lap while in a small truck.”
For about six months a year, Birbeck lives in Mazabuka, a rural farming town in the southern providence of Zambia, where she does clinical and research work on neurological disorders.
“I grew up in a very rural farming area,” she said.
“I feel comfortable in Mazabuka because farming areas are not that different around the world, and I have found it to be a very rewarding place to work. The work you do as a physician probably wouldn’t get done if you weren’t doing it.”
Birbeck said she knew early on she wanted to go into medicine while growing up in Owensville, Ind., a town on the very southwestern tip of the state.
“My family was quite close to the family doctor in town, and I grew up with him as a major role model,” Birbeck said.
Birbeck first traveled to Zambia in 1994 — after writing a number of letters inquiring about opportunities abroad since her medical school, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, didn’t have any programs overseas.
“As a medical student, it didn’t take long for me to decide this was an environment I enjoyed. As soon as I spent a little time in Zambia, I knew it really suited me,” Birbeck said.
Birbeck continues to travel to Zambia and works as the director of the Chikankata Health Services Epilepsy Care Team that runs an epilepsy clinic.
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