Helmut Diefenthal

Carl Helmut Diefenthal (March 20, 1924, Berlin, Germany – June 30, 2019, Minneapolis, US) was a German-born American medical missionary, professor, and radiologist who spent more than 25 years working in the Tanzanian town of Moshi. He and his wife founded the Kilimanjaro School of Radiology in the late 1980s. and finished his radiology degree in 1965. His wife became a radiographer during this time. By the late 1980s, Diefenthal and his wife were no longer eligible as missionaries due to their age. Instead, they used their pension and Social Security money to return to Tanzania in 1988.

In 1989, the Diefenthals started the East Africa Medical Assistance Fund to benefit KCMC.

Diefenthal was given an American College of Radiology (ACR) honorary fellowship in 2003. In 2009, he and Ro were given a Hawkinson Honorary Award from the Vincent L. Hawkinson Foundation for Peace & Justice. In 2015, he was given the inaugural Global Humanitarian Award from the ACR and the following year, the International Society of Radiology awarded him a Béclére Medal. and Ro died in 2020.