2023 W.D. Powell Missions Lecture Series
April 20, 2023 - Rebekah Naylor
Speaker: Rebekah Naylor, Director, Global Health Strategies, IMB
Address: "The Greatest Problem in the World is Lostness"
Rebekah Ann Naylor graduated from Baylor University in 1964 with a B.A. degree in chemistry and subsequently from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, receiving the M.D. degree in 1968. She then became the first female resident in general surgery at Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, completing training in 1973.
Rebekah was appointed by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention as a missionary to India in 1973. Arriving at the new Bangalore Baptist Hospital in early 1974, she launched a missionary career that included busy clinical practice, administrative responsibility, and teaching. She led major expansion of the facilities and services. In the 1990's she organized training programs in allied health disciplines, set up accredited residency training programs for doctors, initiated a training program for chaplains, and established the Rebekah Ann Naylor School of Nursing in 1996. During all of the years, Rebekah was involved in church development in the state of Karnataka working alongside Indian pastors and church planters, serving as strategy coordinator for the state from 1999 until 2009, when she retired from active IMB service.
Returning to the States for family reasons in 2002, Rebekah joined the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center and retired as Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery in 2010. Serving as global healthcare consultant first for Baptist Global Response and now for the International Mission Board, she is mobilizing health care personnel to meet medical needs all around the world. She continues to make frequent trips to India to participate in the ministry of Bangalore Baptist Hospital. In 2016 the American College of Surgeons in association with Pfizer, Inc., awarded her the Surgical Humanitarian Award. She received an honorary doctorate of missiology from Oklahoma Baptist University in 2018. Baylor University is awarding the 2022 Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service. A biography is available entitled Rebekah Ann Naylor, M.D.: Missionary Surgeon in Changing Times by Camille Lee Hornbeck.