Dr. Christopher Harmon's life and career are a study in contrasts. As a dermatologist, his Birmingham practice uses technological advances that would have seemed, only a generation or two ago, like science fiction. But in his off-time, he travels to international regions so remote they don't have doctors to treat even the most common medical ailments.
A native of Tupelo, Mississippi, Harmon set his sights early on becoming a physician. "I remember meeting with a career counselor in eighth grade," he says, "and I already knew what I wanted to do. That early influence probably came from growing up near the area's largest rural hospital. It had something like 800 beds in a town of 35,000 people.
"A lot of my friends' parents were doctors, so I had exposure to what they did. And the hospital had a program that was very progressive for its time--a summer program for pre-med students, where I worked as a scrub tech in the summers for three or four years during college. I knew most of the surgeons from the community, so it was a great experience."
It was during pre-med at Mississippi College in Clinton, medical school at Tulane, and an internship at Mayo Clinic that Harmon gravitated toward the field of dermatology.
Today, he's an expert in a specialized field of dermatologic surgery known as Mohs (pronounced "mose"), named for pioneering Wisconsin surgeon Frederic Mohs who began developing the process while still a medical student. For the past 20 years, Harmon says, "it's been the gold standard for surgical management of skin cancers."
Also known as Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS), the technique uses microscopic tools combined with an exacting system of tissue dyes to concentrate on precisely targeting the malignant cells and severely limiting--often by as much as three-fourths--the amount of healthy tissue removed by conventional surgery, resulting in higher cure rates.
The surgical procedure is so complex that students of it have to assist in at least 500 hours of the surgeries over a one to two-year fellowship. Each year a Mohs surgery fellow spends a year of training following their dermatology residency with Harmon and his partner, Dr. Evans Bailey, to become a Mohs surgeon.
It was around the year 2000 that Harmon began his involvement in medical missions work, both locally and internationally. One local initiative was through the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, on whose board he served. Members wanted to find ways to use their skills not just for affluent patients but also underserved populations. One initiative treats scarring in victims of domestic violence; another helps with removing unwanted tattoos.
On an international scale, his travels have taken him to locales ranging from the Middle East to the Peruvian Amazon. Every trip has been a learning experience, he says: "Basically we take a team of healthcare professionals and set up a walk-in clinic in an empty house or a school classroom. At first we thought we'd see a lot of exotic tropical diseases, but the truth was that many common ailments here in the U.S. were the most common there also.
"There is back pain and musculoskeletal pain with villagers who work as farmers and stay bent over much of the time. Impetigo is rampant because so many of the kids go barefoot. We see other common forms of skin conditions, and a lot of stomach aches from intestinal parasites. Fishermen have skin infections from snakebite or being stung by catfish.
"With the back pain and musculoskeletal pain, we also help the workers learn to lift with their legs, and teach them better posture for working all day. Those solutions have more long-lasting results than just the nonsteroidals we can provide for them in the short term."
The team members also use the medical missions as a way of spreading their Christian faith and enabling a process they call "church planting," helping local pastors set up new churches both to share the faith and see to the day-to-day needs of parishioners, especially widows and orphans.
"We encourage our physicians and nurses to take time to pray with their patients and share their faith, things they don't have the time or the leeway to do in a busy practice back home," Harmon says.
"Another satisfying thing we do is to bring several pairs of eyeglasses with us. When you see a 30 or 40-year old adult simply put on a pair of readers or distance glasses and suddenly see the world clearly for the first time, it's a very powerful moment. Often, in gratitude, they bring us eggs from their chickens, or a painting they have on the wall.
"One of our most memorable experiences was when orthopedic surgeon John Morris treated a young man of 10 or 12 who had a broken leg from a fall. Dr. Morris had to put a makeshift cast of broomsticks and towels on the boy's leg, and impressed on his family the need for him to stay in bed rather than continuing to hobble around. Six months later we were in the same area, at a house in the middle of a jungle, and saw that the boy was completely healed--running around, playing, and doing very well."
Harmon is engaged in two ministry efforts; one is called e3 Partners (e3partners.org) which helps with church-planting and growth; another is New Water Ministry (newwater.com) that operates a missionary-training facility on Lake Martin, built in the wake of the 2011 tornadoes, with a working fruit farm that helps subsidize its outreach efforts.
"We're always looking for new people who have a heart for missions to help us," he says. "It's a great way for us all to come together."