Malawi is a nation of 15 million with just eight practicing pediatricians. Dr. Martha Sommers has been practicing medicine in rural Malawi since 1997, and spent years as the sole doctor in a region of 120,000. She is the subject of a new documentary called Brink of Survival and joins Worldview to discuss her work with the film’s director, Salome Chasnoff.
Advance Screening: Friday, September 21
Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center
77 E. Randolph St at Michigan Ave
Chicago IL 60602
5:30 Reception
6:30 Screening, followed by discussion with Brink of Survival Director Salome Chasnoff and Dr. Martha Sommers, who is featured in the film
This event is free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Chicago Film Office and the Chicago Cultural Center
Dr. Martha Sommers, the physician featured in Brink of Survival, has been practicing medicine in rural Malawi since 1997. She is currently one of two long-term doctors at Ekwendeni Hospital as well as the training site coordinator for family medicine students. She is also an adjunct senior lecturer at Mzuzu University. Prior to relocating to Ekwendeni in 2010, she was Medical Director of Embangweni Hospital, the sole doctor serving more than 120,000 people. Dr. Sommers grew up in the Midwest and worked in family practice in Wisconsin before moving to Malawi. She received her B.A. in microbiology with a minor in theology from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and her M.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by a family practice residency at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
