A Tribute to Dr. Mark Stinson

Mark Stinson - Doctor of Medicine, dedicated humanitarian, teacher and great friend of Relief International - passed away at his home in Oakland, California on Friday, March 2, 2007. The cause of death was a pre-existing medical condition that led to respiratory arrest while Mark was quietly sleeping.

Mark was a great mentor and friend to many of us. His passing is unreal and hard to accept. He was solid as a rock, the ultimate ER Doc. In the course of his tragically short lifetime, Mark saved many lives, undoubtedly thousands. His personal tag line was that he made house-calls worldwide. He is described by those who knew him as "generous," "fearless," "kind," "persistent," and "a dynamic human if there ever was one."

Mark's medical and humanitarian work - what many of his trainees refer to as the "Stinson Method" - was personal; every patient, every human being he touched was treated with individual attention, respect and dignity, as well as with the best medical care available. In his training of other humanitarian workers, he emphasized that the way in which one touched patients with care and compassion (and not to forget the confidence that was also his hallmark) was as important in healing the wounds of war, as - if not more than - the technical medical care to be dispensed. He was indeed a true healer whose reach was personal as well as global. Mark brought a unique human approach to the humanitarian field we too often intellectualize or label "complex humanitarian emergencies." His personal tag line of "making house-calls worldwide" was real and is what distinguishes the Stinson Method.

"Mark was the first person I called, or rather called me, the moment news surfaced of a disaster" says Dr. Farshad Rastegar, CEO of Relief International. "He had this remarkable ability to parachute in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world, set up a medical clinic and be treating hundreds of patients within just a couple of hours of landing. Mark's one motivation in life was to save lives and it is impossible to imagine him away from us other than for an emergency in heaven."

Mark's work with Relief International began in April 1999, when he led the Disaster Response Team in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. Always traveling on his own dime, with his own emergency medicine kits, and other team members who he personally recruited and mobilized - and all with no more than twenty-four to forty-eight hours notice - Mark led countless emergency relief teams for Relief International. These include responses to the Pakistan Earthquake (2005), the Tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka (2004), the Afghanistan conflict response (2001), the Gujarat province earthquake in India (2001), the Izmit, Turkey earthquake (1999), and the Balkans crisis (1999). Relief International will be forever indebted to Mark for his selfless, courageous, and heroic work, and for the tremendous role he played in shaping our agency's rapid emergency response capacity.

In addition to his volunteer work with RI, Mark worked for Contra Costa County Hospital but also as a trainer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mark served at ground zero of 9/11, in the Katrina emergency, and in countless other domestic and international disaster response efforts. Mark was certified in Advanced Trauma Life Support, Travel and Tropical Medicine, Advanced Pediatric Life Support, and Advanced Neonatal Life Support. He trained and recruited numerous other colleagues to the cause of international humanitarian action. His medical and humanitarian achievements were, in short, remarkable.

It is not difficult to see why so many of us loved Mark and looked up to him. In his memory, Relief International's Emergency Response Team has named the Emergency Operations Room the Mark Stinson Emergency Unit and the Board of Directors of Relief International have set up the Stinson Emergency Relief Fund with an initial contribution from the Board of $100,000. The revolving fund will support all of RI's future emergency relief missions in Mark's honor.

Relief International mourns the loss of Dr. Mark Stinson and will strive to emulate his commitment, persistence, and generosity in all of our humanitarian endeavors.