Ivan Edwards (DO, FAAPMR, FRSA) is a medical doctor, an ex-pastor, a military officer, a social activist, a community leader, and a public speaker.
His achievements have ranged from co-founding a sponsorship program for disadvantaged children in Uganda to running a veteran program across various US hospitals, and promoting healthcare initiatives in the areas of resilience, neurorehabilitation, pain, PTSD, and COVID.
Background
Dr. Edwards was born in Uganda to Teddy and Ludmilla Nabisooli Edwards, both of Ugandan and European ancestry.
He grew up in a middle-class family but witnessed deep personal and family persecutions during the tumultuous years of Amin's tyranny and the wars that followed, which molded him into joining the ministry at an early age. He was ordained as a non-denominational minister in 1986 in Uganda.
He immigrated to the US in 1988.
Education
He attended Norman Godinho Primary School (now known as Buganda Road Primary School) in Kampala, Uganda. He obtained his secondary, O-level, school education at Old Kampala Senior Secondary School. He attended a year of his A-level education at Makerere High School.
In the US, he pursued ministerial training and graduated with a BA (cum laude) in Pastoral Counseling at Kingsway Christian University & Seminary.
He later changed course to become a physician. He attended Rivier University, graduating with a bachelor's degree, with honors, in Biology, in 1999. He then attended medical school at Midwestern University, graduating with a doctorate degree (Medicine) in 2004.
He completed Internal Medicine internship training at Eastern Virginia Medical School, in 2005, and subsequent three-year residency training, in the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio), in 2008.
He joined the US Air Force Medical Corps via a direct commission in 2004, attended Officer Training School, and took additional training at the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine to become a Flight Surgeon in 2016. He is the first flight surgeon of Ugandan descent.
Upon completing his medical training, he obtained board certification by both the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Osteopathic Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is a full-fledged Fellow of the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
He holds memberships with the Aerospace Medical Association, the Military Officers Association of America, the Society of USAF Flight Surgeons, and the Texas Medical Association.
Career
Dr. Edwards is a renowned board-certified physiatrist, with a practice, in San Antonio, TX, that is primarily inpatient and is focused on neurorehabilitation and pain management.
He is a Flight Surgeon, at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, in the US Air Force Reserves, and is stationed at the Alamo Wing. He also served as the Health and Wellness physician for the San Antonio Fire Department.
Dr. Edwards serves as a board member on a few hospitals’ medical executive board committees. He is also a commissioned Kentucky Colonel.
He has participated in community activism and in humanitarian initiatives for childhood education, neurorehabilitation, pain, PTSD and COVID. He has assisted in numerous court cases pertaining to injuries, trauma, and rehabilitation. In 2006-2009, he organized a movement that protested the sale of a historic cemetery to investors in Uganda (1), (2). In the early 1990s, he was a key founder in creating a child sponsorship program that provided resources to children of disadvantaged backgrounds in Uganda (3). From 2014-2018, he was medical director of two Acute Rehabilitation Facilities (Select Rehabilitation hospital and The Nix), in San Antonio, in which he ran specialized (neurorehabilitation) programs for people with chronic pain, Parkinson's disease and Multiple Sclerosis (4). He has also partnered with key players to address PTSD and the needs of patients with COVID in sub-Saharan Africa (5).
He is an influential public speaker, and has spoken on various topics related to health, the human condition, personal growth, the environment – and other relevant topics. He conducts annual symposiums on resilience.
Views
Quotations:
- "Walk away from what pulls you back and down. Walk towards to what inspires you to be better and healthier."
- "Fear, worry and anxiety accomplish nothing but grief, heart ache and wasted energy that trim away your happiness and joy. Live your life. Let go of things, situations and people you cannot change! Enjoy the liberty God has for you!"
- What people think about you does not define you. Get on your feet and move on!
- What others think or say about you is worthless. Be bold, live your life. Get on your feet and move on!
“I am honored to have been nominated and commissioned a colonel. The Kentucky colonels are rooted in rich tradition, honor, and history, and to be a part of that heritage is truly inspiring” Col Ivan Edwards, after his award commission as a Kentucky Colonel.
“ Worrying about anything solves nothing.”