Penn doctor prepares to fight Ebola in Liberia

Trish Henwood wasn't sleeping well. "I'm not somebody who suffers from insomnia - ever," she says. But she was feeling guilt, feeling the call. She had to go to Liberia, to confront the Ebola epidemic. But how could she?

Henwood, 34, had just taken a new job in July as an emergency-room physician at the University of Pennsylvania and as director of global health initiatives. She is among a pioneering wave of ER physicians who have learned that the humble little ultrasound machine is a "game-changer" in remote countries.

She was scheduled to cover shifts at HUP and also to work in Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia during the fall.

But in her new job, all she could think about was Ebola. The epidemic was not yet on the public's radar, but she understood the crisis and immense need.

Every day for an hour, she would work out, her "sanity time," and she would find herself on the ballet barre at Pure Barre, at 17th and Walnut, looking at the other women in Lululemon pants. "I wanted to say, 'Does anybody in this room have any idea that all I'm thinking about is Ebola?' "

Finally, in early September, at a conference in Rwanda, she called her boss back at HUP, Jill Baren, head of the emergency department.

"I can't sit idly by and watch this happen," Henwood told her boss.

Baren was on board.

"It's like, 'Wow, one of our own faculty colleagues is taking the plunge and going,' " Baren said. "That means everything to us."

But there was also the small matter of Henwood's telling her family. She grew up in Bala Cynwyd, and she's one of seven children, and her mother's one of six, and her father's one of nine, and the entire family is local. Her return from several years in Boston was a big deal. She was truly more worried about her family's reaction to the news than about her own safety. She waited until last week, until everything was a go, really until the last possible moment, to tell her father, Tom Henwood, 63, of Malvern.

"This is what you're made for," he told her.

"Made me cry," she said.

Henwood flies out Thursday morning to Liberia, entering the epicenter of the largest known Ebola epidemic, which has infected 8,914 people in West Africa and killed at least 4,447, according to the World Health Organization. More than half the reported deaths have been in Liberia. And the WHO predicts that 1.4 million people could soon be infected if aid efforts aren't increased.

Henwood will work at International Medical Corps' Ebola Treatment Unit in Bong County, four hours north of the capital, Monrovia.

"It just became clear that other people were not taking up the torch, and it felt like it needed to be done," she said this week. "I realize risks are associated with it, but they are calculated risks, and I feel like I have the right training and background. It wasn't really too much a question in my mind about going. It was really about facilitating a time."

Henwood attended Academy of Notre Dame high school in Villanova. While she was growing up, her parents, Tom and Gerri, traveled internationally for their work in finance and pharmaceuticals, respectively, and the world didn't seem that big to her. The catalyst for her humanitarian interest might have been Henwood's great-aunt, who taught in Zimbabwe and regaled her with stories as a child.

She went to Georgetown University and focused on rowing, then trained as an EMT in Philadelphia and had a "transformative experience" volunteering for a Philadelphia-based charity, Aerie Africa, which supports a home for orphans in southern Ethiopia.

Henwood then went to Jefferson Medical College and completed her residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Working in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, she realized how vital ultrasound could be in low-resource countries. Small and portable, the machine allows doctors to immediately diagnose internal bleeding and lung collapse, as well as to assess muscles, bones, and organs such as the heart, kidneys, and liver.

She cofounded PURE (Point-of-care Ultrasound in Resource-limited Environments) in 2011. Baren recruited her to lead Penn's efforts in this area.

"She's a shining example of a humanitarian," Baren said, acknowledging that few doctors were lining up to go to Ebola-infected Africa.

She described Henwood as "definitely one of those people way out on the curve," and "once the first wave of people gets information back to us," Baren said, more doctors will be going.

Henwood knows she'll have to be perfect when putting on and taking off protective equipment and plans to monitor herself closely. She'll need to go against many of her clinical instincts, touching people only when she's suited up, which she can maintain for only so long. She could lose too many fluids or become faint in the heat, and it can take 15 minutes to remove the suit.

Henwood said that, if infected, she would be evacuated.

A competitive triathlete, Henwood has done the Ironman South Africa - a 2.5-mile swim, 112 miles on a bike, and a 26-mile run. She believes her conditioning will help her hold up in a moon suit, in the heat, under immense stress. She also expects heavy rain, heat, and a biblical number of bugs. There is a trail around the college where she will be staying, and despite all, she plans to run.

In Liberia, Henwood's days will be regimented by strict rules to ensure her safety. She can't touch anyone, will never use public bathrooms or eat out, and will keep track of her own safe dining utensils.

Penn ER physician Anthony Dean, who has been working with Henwood as a board member of PURE, feels a mix of admiration and anxiety for her.

"We'll be popping champagne bottles when she returns safely," he said.

Henwood will be writing posts from Liberia for The Inquirer until she returns Nov. 18.