Due to the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the occupation of Bukavu where the hospital founded by Dr. Mukwege is located, he will be unable to deliver the Catena Lecture this year. As such, this event has been postponed indefinitely. Dr. Mukwege remains actively engaged in his leadership role and, understandably, his presence and attention are urgently required elsewhere during this challenging time. We hope you will consider learning more about his work through the Panzi Foundation.

Dr. Denis Mukwege Selected as the 2025 Thomas Gerard Catena Lecturer in Medicine, Faith, and Service 

This prestigious lectureship highlights and honors academic, clinical, and lay leaders whose work displays innovative scholarship, service, and institution-building at the intersection of theology, medicine, and culture.

Dr. Denis Mukwege is a world-renowned Congolese gynecologist, human rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He has become the world’s leading specialist in the treatment of wartime sexual violence and a global campaigner against the use of rape as a weapon of war. 

As a young child, Dr. Mukwege accompanied his father, a Pentecostal pastor, while visiting sick members of the community. This later inspired him to become a doctor, as he realized that prayer was not enough to help heal those who are suffering. He decided to specialize in gynecology and obstetrics after observing that female patients at Lemera Hospital suffered from insufficient medical care, which caused life-altering complications during their deliveries, such as fistulas and prolapse. He founded Panzi Hospital in 1999 with the intention that it would be a center of excellence for maternal health care in a country that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

Dr. Mukwege and his staff have helped to care for more than 83,000 survivors of sexual violence since the hospital’s inception. The hospital not only treats survivors with physical wounds, but also provides legal, socio-economic reintegration, and psychosocial services to its patients. Dr. Mukwege has been fearless in his efforts to increase protections for women and to advocate that those responsible for sexual violence be brought to justice, including the Congolese government and militia groups laying siege to Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.