Surgeon Goes Beyond Borders

Dr. Meredith’s journey from Arizona to Zambia is changing the lives of children across Africa

Dr. Meredith Workman’s journey to serving some of the world’s most vulnerable children at CURE Zambia began when she was just a young girl in Ohio. During a mission trip to Zimbabwe at age 14, she felt a clear call from God while reading the biography of Paul Brand, a surgeon who worked with patients with leprosy in India.

“I knew I wanted to serve God with my life in a permanent way,” she recalls. “And then I read that book, and a light turned on . . . This is what I want to do with my life—be a medical missionary.”

While the calling was clear, the journey would be long. The first step? Overcoming her fear of hospitals.

Responding to God’s Call

Dr. Meredith threw herself into volunteering in hospitals whenever she could. After medical school and residency training, she completed her pediatric plastics fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio and became a board-certified plastic surgeon in 2013.

“As I went through training, serving children had the most alignment to what I loved—restoring,” she said. “Why does reconstruction matter? It is not about obtaining a result that looks good. It’s not about an after picture. It’s about restoring wholeness to a life that has been affected by disability and disease.”

She opened her own pediatric plastic/reconstructive surgery practice in Mesa, Arizona—where she and her husband, David, were raising their four kids. All the while, Dr. Meredith believed her footsteps would lead to working in an underserved region. And her family, living out the Bible verse that has guided their path, were open to the journey.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
­­—Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

Dr. Meredith learned of CURE’s need for a full-time surgeon to grow a plastic and reconstructive service in Zambia. So in January 2022, with 18 checked bags and four young kids in tow, the Workmans boarded a plane for Lusaka, Zambia.

“We sold our house, we sold our cars, we sold it all,” she says. “We recognize that this is God calling us to start a new life and to build a new home and to build a new community.”

Establishing Roots in Zambia

Today Dr. Meredith is growing the plastic and reconstructive services at CURE Zambia. She’s also pioneered the opening of the hospital’s Cleft Care Center, which provides consistent and comprehensive care to children suffering from cleft lip and palate, addressing their physical, nutritional, and psychosocial needs.

Dr. Meredith is committed to building a team that will help standardize this approach to comprehensive care across CURE’s network of eight children’s hospitals, revolutionizing the treatment of cleft conditions throughout Africa.

“I believe all children are born equal, whether they are born in Lusaka or Los Angeles,” says Dr. Meredith. “As a mother, the expectation I have for surgical care is this: would it be good enough for my child? As a surgeon, it’s my job to make sure the answer to that question is always yes.”

Thank you for your generous support that enables world-class Christian surgeons like Dr. Meredith to serve as the hands and feet of Christ with CURE.