Sandra

The Reverend Sandra McCann, M.D., retired from her position as Chief of Radiology at Hughston Orthopedic Hospital in Columbus, GA, in 1999.  Following her graduation from Virginia Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity degree in 2003, Sandra and her husband, Martin, became appointed missionaries of the Episcopal Church of USA.  After eight months of training in mission work in Africa, Sandra returned home in October, 2004, to be ordained a Deacon in the Diocese of Atlanta in her home parish of St. Thomas in Columbus, GA.  During those initial internship months, Sandra very much enjoyed teaching liturgy and homiletics at St. Philip’s Theological College in Maseno, Kenya.  This helped prepare her for their permanent assignment to Dodoma, Tanzania, where she is a fulltime faculty member of Msalato Theological College.  Dodoma is the nominal capital of Tanzania and is located in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika.  Sandra was ordained to the priesthood by the Right Reverend Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta, in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Dodoma in June 2005.

Martin

Martin McCann, M.D., is a pathologist who practiced in community hospitals for 25 years, retiring in 1999 from his position as Chief of Pathology of St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, GA.   During his first year of retirement, Martin obtained a certificate in Tropical Medicine, doing the course part of the work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and the field part of the work in Lima, Peru.  For the next three years while his wife, Sandra, was in seminary, Martin did many short term medical mission trips to Haiti, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Kenya.  In their first months as Episcopal missionaries in Africa, Martin worked on improving the quality of the laboratory at Maseno Mission Hospital in Maseno, Kenya.  His primary interests are laboratory improvement and the use of fine needle aspiration for diagnosing infections and tumors.  After the McCann’s moved to Dodoma, Tanzania, in November, 2004, Martin set up a histopathology laboratory in the Mackay House Anglican Mission Clinic in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika.  In addition, he is working as a consultant and teacher at the Mvumi Anglican Mission Hospital in the same diocese but about 30 kilometers outside of Dodoma.

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