Catherine Hamlin

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Catherine Hamlin (right) in August 2006 together with young physicians from Africa

E. Catherine Hamlin, AC (24 January 1924) is an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist, the co-founder of Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital with her late husband Dr. Reg Hamlin. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital is the world's only medical center dedicated exclusively to providing free fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries. Dr. Hamlin has been recognized by the United Nations agency UNFPA as a pioneer in fistula surgery for her development of techniques and procedures for obstetric fistula treatment.

Most patients are destitute when they arrive and cannot afford to pay for the surgery, so the surgery is provided for free. In addition to the main hospital in Ethiopia's capital, Dr. Hamlin has opened three new Hospitals in the Ethiopian cities of Bahir Dar, Mekele and Yirgalem, and she is opening two more in Harrar and Metu. The Hospital is also a global center of expertise in fistula repair and trains surgeons from around the world. In 2008, the Hospital will move more aggressively into the important area of fistula prevention with the opening of the Hamlin Midwifery College in Addis Ababa. The growing network of Hospitals -- the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals -- and the Midwifery College are supported largely by private donors in Australia, the UK and the United States. The largest of the dedicated support organizations is the Fistula Foundation, located in Santa Clara, California.

Dr. Hamlin was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. After graduating from the University of Sydney Medical School in 1946, she (then Catherine Nicholson) took a resident position at the Crown Street Women's Hospital under the medical directorship of Dr. Reginald Hamlin, whom she later married. In 1959, Catherine and her husband traveled to Ethiopia to establish a school of midwifery in Addis Ababa. Fifteen years later, they founded Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Dr. Hamlin, her late husband and their team of doctors and staff have treated more than 34,000 women, returning health and dignity to otherwise often forgotten women.

Dr. Hamlin has been awarded honorary fellowships in the medical associations of Australia, England and the United States. In 1995, Dr. Hamlin was awarded Australia's highest honour, being made a Companion of the Order of Australia. She is the author of the best-selling book The Hospital by the River. In 2004, she received the coveted "Best Practices in Global Health Award" from the Global Health Council. She has been described as a modern day "Mother Teresa" in an editorial by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. Also, Dr. Hamlin appeared on the Oprah Winfrey television show in January 2004. The episode was included in Ms. Winfrey's 20-year anthology collection. Ms. Winfrey traveled to the Hospital and filmed another episode for her show, broadcast in December 2005. A new documentary, "A Walk to Beautiful," which features five Ethiopian women who are treated and cured by Dr. Hamlin and her team at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, will air on the PBS show NOVA in Spring of 2008. The film was produced by Engel Entertainment in New York; NOVA and the Fistula Foundation are the largest supporters of the production.

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