During his third year in medical school, Dr. Green volunteered at McKean Leprosy Hospital in Thailand, creating his interest in third world medicine that continues to this day. After a chance conversation in the early ’80s with a businessman who supported the work of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, Tom has spent years of effort, thousands of air miles and countless dollars caring for the orphans.

He works tirelessly to organize medical care for the orphanages in Haiti, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua on site and in the surrounding medical communities. He has been instrumental in bringing over 20 children requiring other specialty care, from heart surgery to hearing and vision treatment, to Seattle, arranging for their transportation and even housing them in his own home. He then persuades his colleagues at Virginia Mason to provide the necessary care before returning them to their Central American homes.

In 1995, Dr. Green met a visiting Russian Health Minister and became interested in the potential for teaching Russian orthopedists to do arthroscopy. He convinced the equipment manufacturer to donate two full sets of equipment and organized other Virginia Mason physicians to travel to Russia to teach their particular area of expertise to Russian health professionals. He has journeyed three times to Khabarovsk, teaching new techniques, performing surgeries in antiquated operating rooms and being the welcoming host as Russian doctors visit Seattle for further training. Getting supplies into the country is a huge challenge. For the future he is researching self-contained operating room modules to be barged into Khabarovsk.