nown to many Adventists as the cofounder and director of the Loma Linda University Overseas Heart Surgery Team, Joan Coggin, M.D.--professor of medicine at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine--has become a familiar face also to many heads of state around the world.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree from Columbia Union College, she graduated from the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University) School of Medicine in 1952.

She obtained postgraduate training at Los Angeles County General Hospital; Children's Hospital in Los Angeles; Hammersmith Hospital in London, England; and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, from which she began a career that has earned her a place of distinction in American medical history. At a time when women comprised barely 5 percent of medical school graduates in America, Dr. Coggin built a successful pediatric cardiology practice that touched the lives of countless children.

In the early 1960s she greatly extended the reach of her service by cofounding the now world-renowned Loma Linda University Overseas Heart Surgery Team. Over its 30 years of service, the team has ministered to patients and also taught local physicians in countries around the world, from Pakistan and Greece to Saudi Arabia and Nepal.

In a career marked by compassion and medical excellence, Dr. Coggin has for nearly half a century--as a pediatric and adult cardiologist, medical educator, and international health-care ambassador--served patients, families, and countries around the globe.