Gene Rudd MD

Dr. Gene Rudd obtained his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Georgia in 1973 and his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1977. He completed a categorical internship in 1978, as well as a residency in 1981 in obstetrics and gynecology at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Among his numerous professional and academic affiliations, he was the Director of the Maternal/Fetal Medicine program at William Beaumont Army Medical Center where he trained residents in the military.

A specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, Dr. Rudd has extensive experience as a director of a maternal-fetal medicine training program and in rural healthcare practice. He has garnered several awards, including the prestigious Gorgas Medal in 1981, which was presented to him by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop for achievement in preventative medicine. This award recognized his groundbreaking research during his residency in establishing the efficacy of preoperative antibiotics. His findings changed the course of antibiotic use in surgery. After 12 years in the U.S. Army, he resigned his commission at the rank of Major before moving to Marion, North Carolina. He was in solo private practice in a rural region in Western North Carolina that previously had the worst perinatal statistics in the state. In the six years he practiced in this area, he was on call all but six days.

Prior to joining CMDA, Dr. Rudd served with Samaritan’s Purse and was one of the first Western physicians to enter the former Soviet Union after the Berlin Wall came down. He taught extensively in medical schools and hospitals during that time and established the Christian Medical Mission of Russia, started the first CMDA chapter in that country and obtained an institutional medical license enabling medical missionaries to get licensed until this day. He stepped off the ramp of a still moving Canadian C-130 in the midst of the Rwanda genocide and walked through the bodies of the slain to open the Central Hospital in its capital Kigali. He faced down killing teams that wanted to slay patients in their beds and was appointed medical coordinator for the city when the United Nations finally arrived on the scene. He also performed relief work in the Balkans during the Balkan Wars where he was pinned down in a ditch for over an hour by sniper fire. He also served in Belarus, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, and India.

Gene joined CMDA in 1995 to work alongside his friend Dr. David Stevens, serving in the capacity known in many organizations as Chief Operating Officer. When CMDA was recognized as a “Best Christian Workplace” by Christianity Today in 2003, they described Dave and Gene’s unique relationship as a partnership that functions like co-CEOs. One of the most visible parts of Gene’s impact on the organization was the building of our headquarters, as he was the project manager for the construction. His oversight resulted in our building receiving all four awards that year from the Southern Building Association. It was the first time that had happened in their history.

As Senior Vice President, Dr. Rudd piloted the ship inside the walls of CMDA. For example, his oversight of the organization’s budgeting process enabled CMDA to grow and develop into what it is today. His wisdom and influence didn’t stop there, as his leadership of our ministry reached into every state and numerous other countries. For more than 20 years, he was on the board of the International Christian Medical & Dental Association, which networks and serves national CMDA groups in 79 countries around the world. As a spokesman for Christian healthcare professionals in America, Dr. Rudd has received national media coverage, including appearances on NBC News, National Public Radio, American Family Radio, and Salem Radio Network, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, The Washington Post and American Medical News. He has authored countless articles and co-authored Practice by the Book, a Christian doctor’s guide to living and serving. In addition, he oversaw the development of the Saline Solution and the subsequent Grace Prescriptions curriculum. He has helped train more than 200 healthcare professionals to do TV, radio, and print interviews. He has personally counseled hundreds of CMDA members as they dealt with difficult practice or personal issues.

Dr. Rudd began working part-time in 2017, but he continues to be involved in numerous ways and his leadership is felt throughout the entire ministry. He still speaks across the country to student and graduate groups, and he leads some of CMDA’s international tours to Greece and Israel. He recently started CMDA Encore, a ministry for retired and semi-retired healthcare professionals to help them discern God’s will and purpose for their retirement years. And as a result of his part-time hours, Dr. Rudd is also enjoying spending more time with his wife Gay, their four children, and their 10 grandchildren.

Dr. Rudd has ministered to countless healthcare professionals across the country and around the world. Many have accomplished important goals for healthcare in areas of service or policy, but Dr. Rudd is an example of one who has actually changed the culture of medicine, by personal example, training, and tireless labor at an organizational level to produce the programs necessary for that change. The greatest investment of a man’s life is to invest his life in others to help them become all they were designed to be. With wisdom and compassion, Dr. Rudd has given himself to those in need and has been a sterling example and mentor to the next generation of healthcare professionals.