Tom Catena

Early life and education Born in Amsterdam, New York, United States, as the son of an Italian-American judge, Gene Catena, and his wife Nancy, Catena grew up with six brothers and a sister. His brother Paul is a Catholic priest.

Catena graduated as the salutatorian from Amsterdam High School and later with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Brown University in 1986. While at Brown, Catena played nose guard on the Brown Bears football team and was a member of the Delta Phi fraternity. In 1987, he spent a year as English teacher in Tokyo, Japan. He later received his medical degree from Duke University, he served as a flight surgeon; in this capacity, he was stationed at the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia from 1994 to 1995. After his discharge from the Navy in 1997, Catena began a postgraduate residency in family medicine at Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana, while also participating in one-month medical mission trips to Guyana (1997) and Honduras (1998). and Catena is the only surgeon for the surrounding population of 750,000 people. The hospital's catchment area covers roughly one third of South Kordofan, equivalent in size to the entire country of Austria.

An abandoned village in the Nuba Mountains from the previous civil war. Villagers moved up in the mountains to avoid the militias. Humanitarian aid is restricted, a ban that Catena defies. Catena sometimes uses decades-old treatments, and earns $350 a month while being on call 24/7. He engages the local community in the work as nurses and other assistive personnel, including through trainings in Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda.

The Mother of Mercy Hospital was subject to bombings by Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets operated by the Sudanese Air Force in May 2014, although at the time no one was injured. 2022 – Honorary Doctor of Science degree, Duke University 2020 – Gerson L’Chaim Prize for "outstanding Christian medical missionary service", African Mission Healthcare 2018 – Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA) Social Justice Award 2017 – Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity; besides receiving a grant in the sum of $100,000, Catena chose the following three organizations to share the prize's $1,000,000 award to continue their work: African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), USA Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), USA Aktion Canchanabury, Germany 2017 – Honorary Doctorate, Yerevan State Medical University 2016 – Honorary Doctor of Medical Science degree, Brown University 2015 – Time 100 2015 – Gold Medal of the National Football Foundation (NFF)

Personal life Since May 2016, Catena has been married to his wife Nasima, a nurse. They have a son.