Dear Reader,

If variety is the spice of life, this issue is a hot chile pepper.

Our cover story describes the contributions of Peter Smith, founder of Outreach EMR, which has brought digital health infrastructure to unusual places. Dr. Smith estimates that by such improvements as tracking appointments and compliance, responding faster to epidemics, and many other mechanisms, EMRs can save 1.3 to 1.5 million lives annually countries such as Uganda, whose patients he has served for many years.

Uganda is also the home of Kyabirwa Surgery Center (KSC). Mount Sinai clinicians provide teleproctoring, enabling general surgery, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, gynecology, and plastic surgery even in remote settings.

Equally inspiring is the work of Kyung-Ryul Lee, MD, PhD. In 2003, Dr. Lee brought the first automated diagnostic laboratory to Mongolia, home of the world’s highest age-standardized gastric cancer mortality rate.

Another high achiever is ophthalmologist Eric Hoyeon Song, MD, PhD., who discovered that the eye has its own lymphatic drainage system. He also engineered LS-VEGF-C, a therapeutic he is working to bring to patients through a company he co-founded.  Yet Dr. Song somehow finds time to mentor younger doctors.

Our Editorial Team writes of the Stomach Cancer Task Force’s second Congressional forum. SCTF works for gastric cancer prevention in high-risk populations and the policy pathways needed to support it.

Our publisher Dr. Hyun strikes a related theme in an article reprinted from Health Affairs. He observes that infections early in life, such as hepatitis B and Helicobacter pylori, can have serious consequences much later on.

Sing Hwi Hong, MD, MPH reports on a discussion of “Immigration, Ethnicity, and the Global Burden of Health,” at the Global Engagement & Empowerment Forum on Sustainable Development. The lesson: migration is redefining disease distribution and challenging traditional approaches to global health.

Patrisha C. Lazatin, MD, MMSc argues vigorously that we should refuse the expectation to thrive in a situation that provides neither assistance nor resources. In recounting how Sierra Leone now has its first neurosurgeon, she admonishes us to “refuse to accept adversity.”

We have not neglected business issues. Dr. Tom Davis provides clear insights into value-based care.   John Jurica, MD lists over a dozen non-clinical roles that physician can consider in health systems, the biopharmaceutical industry, and writing and education.