Unsure initially about his career path as a young man, David Alcindor, MD, first thought a career in architecture might give him the outlet for helping people that he was searching for.
“A long time ago, I wrote an essay about what I wanted to do with my life,” Dr. Alcindor said. “I was aspiring to do either architecture, medicine or law — I called them the ‘Humanitarian Trinity.’ I just wanted to help people.”
Alcindor — now a member of the executive leadership team at South Lincoln Hospital District — went as far as earning his BA in architecture from the University of Kansas-Lawrence, and began researching ways to use his degree to help build homes in third-world countries. A native of Paris, France, Alcindor grew up in a neighborhood not typically found on tourist maps, and he was eager to help those raised in a similar situation. It was during this work that he crossed paths with a team of medical volunteers, and discovered medicine had a far greater impact on individuals in need.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Unsure initially about his career path as a young man, David Alcindor, MD, first thought a career in architecture might give him the outlet for helping people that he was searching for.
“A long time ago, I wrote an essay about what I wanted to do with my life,” Dr. Alcindor said. “I was aspiring to do either architecture, medicine or law — I called them the ‘Humanitarian Trinity.’ I just wanted to help people.”
Alcindor — now a member of the executive leadership team at South Lincoln Hospital District — went as far as earning his BA in architecture from the University of Kansas-Lawrence, and began researching ways to use his degree to help build homes in third-world countries. A native of Paris, France, Alcindor grew up in a neighborhood not typically found on tourist maps, and he was eager to help those raised in a similar situation. It was during this work that he crossed paths with a team of medical volunteers, and discovered medicine had a far greater impact on individuals in need.
“I was born in Paris, France, in the 19th District,” Alcindor said. “It’s a district tourists don’t come to, at least at the time when I was there. It was known for being very rough. It was a very, very poor district — none of my family finished high school, and most of my family are blue collar. When I came to the U.S., I got a degree in architecture, but ended up joining an international team of physicians, working in Haiti. I didn’t know anything about medicine — my research consisted of building housing for the poor. What I found was, third-world countries already had a pretty strong architectural tradition — what they needed was engineers and doctors.I finished my degree in architectural studies, and began pre-med at the University of Kansas, eventually going to medical school.”
After graduating medical school, Dr. Alcindor decided he wanted to practice medicine internationally, and eventually joined the U.S. Air Force, serving on the front lines.
“I was going to do with medicine what I had hoped to do with architecture — tend to the needs of a poor population,” Alcindor said. “I had an international scale in mind, and I contacted the United Nations — they said I had to work for the government for a certain number of years. I contacted Doctors Without Borders, and they told me the same thing, so when I finished medical school, I joined the U.S. Air Force. I was deployed in Kuwait, taking care of different levels of active duty military, from the different branches of the U.S. military. At that point, I realized that international aid was not really what I wanted. I was honorably discharged as a major, and set my sights on rural America, making it a full-time career.”