Dr. Megan Quimper in Liberia

Last April, Dr. Megan Quimper was part of a physician leadership team traveling to Liberia to assess the feasibility of establishing a partnership with the Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) Residency Training Program at Monrovia’s John F. Kennedy Hospital (JFK).  The initiative was established by JustWONDOOR, a US-based non-profit organization that works to advance OBGYN graduate medical education in low-resource settings.  JFK Hospital is Liberia’s flagship medical institution established 1971 in honor of the United States’ 35^th president.  As Dr. Quimper explained, maternal mortality is very high in Liberia. At JFK Hospital this is a regular occurrence where there are between one or two maternal deaths each day.  Dr. Quimper emphasized that the high mortality rate was not due to medical incompetence by JFK’s OBGYN doctors.  In fact, she stated that they are well trained and very competent, doing heroic work.  The issue is that there are so few of them and there are extreme delays in care for patients.  In fact, JFK only has four OBGYN doctors, who in turn, oversee about twenty resident doctors. By contrast Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center has over 60 OBGYN faculty members overseeing 44 residents. This situation complicates the hospital’s OBGYN residency program because this makes residency supervision nearly impossible.  It is at this critical inflection point where Dr. Quimper and her team hope to strengthen the program.  They can help to supervise JFK’s OBGYN residents by providing additional clinical education opportunities in a busy hospital setting.

Dr. Quimper explained that their mission was a success.  The doctors and residents at JFK agreed to the partnership and she and her team have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Liberia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons as well as JFK Hospital to provide their service to the OBGYN Residency.

Dr. Quimper is a true professional.  Months before leaving for Liberia, she contacted the Center for African Studies (CAS), to learn about Liberia.  CAS assistant director, Dr. Jacien Carr, convened numerous sessions to teach Dr. Quimper about Liberian history, culture, politics, and more. 

Due to Dr. Quimper’s dedication to her craft, courage, love for humanity, entrepreneurship, and The Ohio State University, she was the recipient of the Center for African Studies award for Excellence in Leadership and Community Engagement 2025-2026.