About

Our Mission:
 
Medical Bridge of the Motherland (MBM) exists to exchange the full spectrum of medical information with our colleagues in Africa in order to sustainably enhance the level of medical care and treatments available to medically underserved communities. MBM sponsors professional development medical missions in which volunteer medical providers from the U.S. not only bring medical supplies and equipment, but provide specialty training for medical providers in medically underserved communities.  MBM enables medical providers to enhance their ability to lessen suffering, improve the overall health of medically underserved communities, and thus increase opportunities for patients and providers impacted by our collective work to reach their optimal human potential.                                                                                                                                                                    
Our Vision:
 
MBM continuously expands its relationships with medically underserved communities in Africa through relevant Ministries of Health and Universities, in addition to establishing biannual professional development medical missions for partnering countries to elevate the level of health care in medically underserved communities. MBM sponsors year-round virtual continuing education courses following each mission, as well as complementary visiting lecturer exchanges.  These initiatives lend continuity to, and further the sustainability of the improved health outcomes achieved through the medical missions.  Partnerships with airlines and shipping companies that service African routes enable MBM to geometrically increase the amount of donated supplies delivered, and the number of physicians who can volunteer by decreasing the expense of volunteers' airline tickets and freight costs for medical equipment.                                                                                                                          
The Rationale for our Method:
 
“When you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
Unlike most medical mission organizations, MBM focuses on training the medical providers in a country.  This enables the host-country providers who have received the training to both continue to treat their citizens long after each mission ends and train other in-country providers in turn.  And, the medical volunteers gain knowledge of and make linkages with colleagues, countries, and cultures other than their own, which then informs their future practice.  As a result, MBM programs build sustainability and capacity among the host countries' health care providers with durable, lasting effects.

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About our Founder:

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Dr. Khadijah Lang, a native Angelina, is Medical Director & CEO of Lang Family Practice, serving South-Central Los Angeles since 1989, providing culturally competent, respectful, full-scope Family Medicine with Obstetrics Competency. She received a BS in Chemistry from Fisk University, entered the Master’s Program in Organic Chemistry at CSULA, and completed her MD at Charles R Drew (CDU)/UCLA School of Medicine. As part of her further studies in the UCLA School of Public Health towards an MPH she researched the social impact of healthcare.  After graduation from medical school, Dr. Lang completed residency in UCLA’s Department of Family Medicine, where she concluded her medical training with a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She’s been an Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine for Ross University School of Medicine, training the doctors of tomorrow, and has been Principal Investigator in Phase II and III national, multi-site research studies on uterine fibroids. She is the recipient of the NMA’s prestigious 2018 Practitioner of the Year Award, their 2020 Meritorious Achievement, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Why and How the Medical Bridge of the Motherland was built:

Dr. Lang first traveled to the Motherland while a medical student at UCLA, visiting and volunteering in hospitals and clinics of three countries, after losing two close family members the previous year to chronic diseases. She was struck by the stark comparison and severe scarcity of supplies in the African facilities, having just been visiting and working in the well-stocked hospitals of Los Angeles. But she was also able to observe from that first visit the positive impact on patients’ health that even a medical student was able to make during a very short stay. She subsequently made additional trips throughout her training, and bringing medical supplies each time, but went on hiatus when she simultaneously began a family and building her practice to serve the medically underserved of South Los Angeles.  
Once her children got older, she returned to Africa, only to find that in many countries the health conditions had not changed much, and one could still be very impactful with limited amounts of time. Chided by a colleague for not having gone on any medical missions, after some thought, she realized that he was correct but also that her family and professional responsibilities required very specific timing of a trip for her to be able to go, so she decided that during her next available dates she would organize a mission for Golden State Medical Association (GSMA), of which she is President. She started with a 2015 site visit to Mozambique and was horrified by the number and extent of pediatric burn victims from the wood fires they cook with, and paucity of supplies to help them and women with life-threatening pregnancy complications. While there she met with their Minister of Health and other Ministry dignitaries, obtaining approval to bring a medical mission to the country and returning with a small delegation from GSMA the next year, giving American physicians and students of color a rare opportunity to experience the fulfillment one gets from volunteering in Africa, and seeing the life changing impact our work had on these children, and life-saving results to pregnant women treated.

There is an African proverb that says “if you want to go someplace quickly, go alone, but if you want to go far, gather and go in a group”, and so Dr. Lang also collaborated with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKAs), enabling them to bring in over $15,000 worth of medical supplies on the first mission. The following year she expanded the mission to include instructing medical residents at the medical teaching hospital in the capital city, as well as rural clinics in the countryside, and through continued collaboration with the AKAs, GSMA and additional partnerships and leadership roles in the National Medical Association (NMA)’s Council on International Affairs, she was able to triple the number of volunteers and medical supplies delivered, as well as the types of complex procedures taught.

As word of their work got out, Dr. Lang was invited to bring missions to other countries, extending her work into Ethiopia, South Africa, and Ghana, and held a site visit in Botswana to plan a future mission there. Seeing the impact of these missions on patients treated, students taught and the professional volunteers accompanying her, in addition to the accolades received from Ambassadors, Ministers of Health, Medical Universities and the CDC, she knew that this work must continue, so she founded Medical Bridge of the Motherland. We hope that you will consider supporting the mission of MBM with a donation of time, funds, needed supplies, airline miles or hotel points and shipping costs.