Remembering Charlie Kelley, MD, AMPATH Founder

One of AMPATH’s founders, Charles R. Kelley, MD, passed away today after a long illness. Charlie was one of the four Indiana University School of Medicine faculty members who travelled to Kenya, Ghana and Nepal in 1988 in search of an academic health center partner. The partnership that was formed more than 35 years ago is now known around the world as AMPATH. It has provided care for hundreds of thousands of Kenyans and brought lessons learned through bidirectional educational exchanges and collaborative research back to Indiana and other resource-limited communities around the world.

Charlie is remembered by his AMPATH co-founders, friends and colleagues as a humble servant leader with a deep faith that led him and his wife Loraine to careers in medicine and global service.

Charlie said, “Loraine and I had long interest in how to make a difference in the world, particularly among the underserved here in Indianapolis and in the U.S., but especially internationally. Because of our involvement with Christian Medical Society, where there are a number of members who are working around the world, we got to see other parts of the world and how difficult it was to provide medical care -- just the unmet needs.”

Through his lifelong work and dedication to meet some of those needs, he improved the lives of so many people who will never know his name. For the students and residents who had the privilege to learn from him, he will continue to serve as a role model.

We send our heartfelt condolences to Loraine, his daughters and all those that knew and loved him.

Adrian Gardner

Executive Director, AMPATH Consortium