Calling to serve comes from afar
David Price Roye Jr. is obviously someone who lives by his word. Talking of the relationship between China and the United States earlier this year, the pediatric orthopedic surgeon said, “Neither country can live without each other.”
Soon after saying that he was back in China once again, taking his tally of visits to the country in the past 23 years or so to about 80.
Roye, emeritus pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, said he has joined tours arranged by the Children of China Pediatrics Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to providing medical treatment for children with disabilities and deformities living in Chinese orphanages, and exchanged medical information with local health workers.
“I really want to be here in China,” Roye said. “I want to be making a difference for children with cerebral palsy, trying to help my colleagues build a stronger subspecialty in pediatrics with pediatric surgery.”
The International Healthcare Leadership program he established 14 years ago has provided visiting fellowships in U.S. cities for Chinese physicians. Roye works as an academic consultant at Shantou University’s Guangzhou Huaxin Orthopedic Hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
Roye said that when he arrived in China 23 years ago there was no specialist area of pediatric orthopedics.
“Now there is a field and there are meetings. I just attended the 2020 pediatric orthopaedic annual meeting of the orthopedic branch of the Guangdong Medical Doctor Association in Dongguan. It was a very academic, very solid meeting. However, there are not nearly enough people (in this field) in China, not even close.”
Roye is helping the hospital explore new medical areas, such as correcting children’s spinal deformities.
Li Xu, deputy president and director of the hospital’s pediatric orthopedic department, said some operations Roye performs are rarely done in China. For example, those for neuromuscular diseases such as cerebral palsy. In 2018 it was estimated that about 50,000 babies in China were born with cerebral palsy, Li said.
Bone deformities associated with the neuromuscular disorder present the most difficult medical challenge. Cerebral palsy is more difficult to treat in children than in adults because of the changes they undergo as they grow.
“Doctor Roye performs operations, sees patients and participates in the discussion of every case,” Li said. “Our team is one of the top ones in South China so we have many complicated cases.”
The South China Center for Childhood Disabilities and an advanced cerebral palsy gait laboratory, which uses computer technology to capture a 3D image of a child’s walk, were unveiled at the hospital in August.
Roye said the cerebral palsy gait laboratory meant the establishment of a “real CP center with multidisciplinary care, establishing a robust foundation for a clinical research program here”. He wanted to help establish a “clinical fellowship” for pediatric orthopedics surgery, while maintaining his role in caring for children, he said.
“In all of this I don’t want to forget my clinical role. I take care of kids and I love being in the operating room.”
For most of the remainder of his day at the hospital Roye is in the operating theater. Despite the high-pressure work, Roye said the job is its own reward.
“I love being here. I love knowing that week by week, month by month, year by year, I’m here. I can start projects and finish them. I can tell my patients ‘I’ll see you in six months’. It’s all good.”
“I really want to be here in China. I want to be making a difference for children with cerebral palsy.”
DAVID PRICE ROYE JR.