Matthew Haldeman’s first trip to Africa took him a long way from the small town in Ohio where he grew up. That six-week international rotation as a fourth-year medical student was his first experience with tropical medicine. Working alongside a missionary at the only medical clinic on a remote island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania, Haldeman looked through the lens of a microscope to diagnose and treat patients’ malaria and other parasitic diseases.
After completing a doctor of medicine at The Ohio State University in 2011, the physician moved to South Carolina to begin a residency program in family medicine. He returned to Africa – this time to Zimbabwe – for another six-week rotation, which introduced him to the full spectrum of care in a global setting.