When Todd Ruderman ’06 moved to Africa to expand health care services to rural populations, his primary goal was not to treat acute illness and disease. Instead, he made it his mission to help patients manage the chronic conditions — like high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma — that can slowly erode their quality of life and, when left untreated, can lead to serious problems.
“In low- and middle-income countries, so much of the focus on health care historically has been on infectious disease and maternal and child health and nutrition,” he says. Because that’s a focus of attention and funding, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including chronic lung disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and cancer, are often put on the back burner, says Ruderman. The same is true with regular cancer screenings, like for breast and cervical cancer.
It’s not a surprise that Ruderman went down this path. He always knew he wanted to be a doctor; he grew up admiring his father, who was one. That childhood dream stuck and came more into focus in high school, and then in his college selection, which led him to Colgate.
Today Ruderman serves as the PEN-Plus regional adviser to the Noncommunicable Disease and Injuries for the Poorest Billion Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. There he works on expanding PEN-Plus and NCDs services in southeastern Africa.
The PEN in PEN-Plus stands for the package of essential noncommunicable disease interventions — things like hypertension, diabetes, respiratory disease, and basic cancer screening. PEN started in 2010 as a World Health Organization program to tackle these conditions and “acknowledge the more complex NCDs that are underappreciated,” says Ruderman.
After graduating from Colgate, Ruderman went on to earn his doctor of osteopathy degree at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine (now the Rowan- Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine). There, he met his now wife, Emilia, who was interested in global health and did residency rotations in Tanzania and Malawi. “At first I tagged along, and then it became something I was passionate about working in as well.”
After completing his residency, Ruderman and his wife again traveled to Malawi while also working clinical jobs in Cincinnati. When Partners in Health in Malawi reached out and offered full-time positions to them both, “the opportunity was too good to pass up,” he says. They moved to Malawi in 2018 and have been living there ever since.
Through PEN-Plus, Ruderman’s work focuses on bringing health care to 14 African countries through local engagement, by working with NGOs like Partners in Health Malawi, NCD Alliance Kenya, and SolidarMed Zimbabwe.
“A major focus of PEN-Plus is ensuring diagnosis and treatment accessibility to people who don’t normally have access to care,” he says.
For example, in Malawi, 85% of people live in rural districts and don’t have access to care at city hospitals, Ruderman explains. The organization’s work focuses on clinics and brings care to county and regional hospitals “so it is easier for people living in rural communities,” he says. Additionally, some programs they work with provide social support in the form of vouchers to allow patients to pay for transport they otherwise couldn’t afford.
“There is a wide gap of treatment of conditions,” he says — one that his efforts are helping to close.