By Sue Strachan (NC ’86)
The day after an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude devastated Haiti in 2010, pediatrician Dr. Elizabeth C. Bellino (NC ’98, PHTM *00) was there, working with the United Nations medical field team, helping set up the pediatric medical tent. Among her other duties was initiating a first needs assessment project to determine the resources for pediatric health services for Project Medishare and the University of Miami.
After Bellino earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, she received her M.D. from St. George’s University School of Medicine and completed her residency in pediatrics at Tulane University School of Medicine. She then received a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from the School of Public Health at Tulane University.
An introduction to global health concerns came when she completed a two-year Piper Fellowship in International Medicine with a focus on global health, including clinical and educational experience in Rwanda and Uganda, where she spent another year working on a project. Bellino has also been on the ground in Kenya and the Bahamas, dealing with health issues and advising on disaster relief.
Much of what she does in a country “is communicating with Ministry of Health and private aid organizations to get them on the same page.”
Though breaking through the red tape is necessary, it is not her passion. “It is developing hospitals and clinics, at least the pediatric portion,” she said, “helping train medical students and residents in low-resource areas and getting people to be more aware of pediatrics and women’s health.”
It is a path that started in college, when her spark was lit in an anthropology class taught by Professor John Verano of which “Bones, Bodies and Disease: Evidence of Disease and Abnormality in Early Man,” by Calvin Wells was part of the curriculum. “I remember thinking, ‘This is really interesting and [I] would like to pursue this further’,” said Bellino. During this time, this native of Alexandria, Virginia, also got a sense of community and belonging.
“To someone between the ages of 18 and 20, the experiences at college were preparing me for the future,” she said.
Because Bellino has not forgotten these moments, she contributed her time on the Newcomb Alumnae Association for six years and is currently on the Newcomb Director’s Advisory Council. In 2013, she was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumna award by the NAA.
“Being on the board is important to me, in that it connects and keeps me engaged in Newcomb,” she said. “In different parts of my career, I have appreciated different strengths that Newcomb provided me along the way, whether it was in Haiti, Uganda, Bahamas or here in New Orleans.”
Bellino says it is important for her to continue to stay engaged, as well as engage current and new students in Newcomb programs, adding that being on boards helps facilitate new thoughts and ideas, strengthening current projects involving the university.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has put a pause on some of her international duties, Bellino is working as an emergency room physician at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, which allows her the flexibility to spend time with her husband, also a doctor, and her two children.
The flexibility also allows her to still participate in global relief efforts, including Americares, which she just joined. A global nonprofit, the organization’s focus-health and development that responds to individuals affected by poverty, disaster, or crisis-dovetails with what Bellino does.
Among the biggest challenges Bellino faces with relief work is “how to create the bridge from immediate disaster relief to sustainable health care,” adding it is “the biggest global health issue in addition to COVID-19.”
And she is working hard to make those connections happen.