Dr. Donald Mullen has devoted the last thirty years of his life to working in developing countries around the world.
He was born in Charlotte, NC, graduated from The Citadel in 1957 and received his medical degree and completed his residency at Duke University in 1969. After 20 years as a successful cardiovascular surgeon in Charlotte and Milwaukee, who has done over 3,000 open-heart procedures and many thousands of thoracic and vascular surgeries, he obtained his Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1991.
In 1980, he received a call from the World Medical Mission to go to Tenwek Hospital in Kenya for a month and his life has not been the same since. He made a radical change of direction in his life, working throughout the world as a dedicated medical missionary. He has worked for the Presbyterian Church (USA), Samaritans Purse International Relief, the Christian Medical and Dental Association and as chairman of the board of the Philadelphia International Foundation. He has worked in three war zones; twice in Iraq and in Sudan and Rwanda, and in Africa, the Far East and the Middle East.
Dr. Mullen concluded his career as a Parish Associate in Highland, North Carolina, where he as also elected Mayor. He has recently published a memoir of his life, "A Radical Change of Direction; Memoir of the Spiritual Journey of a Surgeon," which is about his life before and after his defining moment of change.
The Global Medical Missions Hall of Fame is honored to recognize Dr. Donald Mullen in the Class of 2017.