Veronica Ades ’99 describes herself as a “vaginista extraordinaire,” but don’t let the cheeky moniker fool you. Ades is an accomplished OB/GYN currently on faculty at New York University’s School of Medicine who splits her time between the school of medicine’s EMPOWER clinic for victims of sexual trafficking and the New York VA Harbor Healthcare System. In February, she briefly left New York and traveled to South Sudan on behalf of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She spoke to Beth Lebwohl ’00 about that, and more.

你们即将到来的无国界医生任务将不是你们的第一次：2012年你们在南苏丹待了一个月。和那个在此之前，他在乌干达做了三年的孕产妇保健工作。非洲的孕产妇保健与美国有何不同？

在美国，当女性无法获得产前护理时，她们可能只看几次医生，也可能只在分娩时出现。但在乌干达，孕妇可能会在根本没有产前护理的情况下（在医生那里）出现，然后在家里推12个小时。在南苏丹，一名妇女可能会在分娩两天后出现，然后再步行四天。此外，在美国，我们没有看到太多的死亡。在乌干达，我必须学会在婴儿死亡时不要感到非常不安——助产士甚至连眨眼都不眨眼。

你在国外有过特别困难的孕产妇护理经历吗？

我在乌干达看到一名妇女被她的兄弟强奸，她在强奸中怀孕，在家里接生了孩子，当她的胎盘没有出来时，她几乎失血过多而死。她来到我取出胎盘的医院，发现她的阴道一直撕裂到直肠。我带她去手术室给她做了手术。然后她母亲来医院看望她，在我给她修好的阴道里打了她一顿，以惩罚她“引诱她的哥哥”现在，当我想到这个女孩时，我的感觉是一种强烈的白热化的愤怒。发生在她身上的事她不应该受到惩罚，她完全没有权力去做任何事情，我也没有。

这是一件很难亲眼目睹的事情。这也说明了你工作的亲密本质。鉴于此，成为妇产科医生是否改变了你对人际关系和爱情的看法？

What I do is fascinating to pretty much all women everywhere, whereas most men find it unappealing and want to run away. When I did my MSF mission, for example, storytelling was my catharsis, and people at the lunch/dinner table would often gather around me to listen to the details of that day’s case. Except for one guy, an MSF construction logistician. He would loudly complain that I was talking too much about vaginas. But, after a week, he was the first one at the table going, “Veronica, what did you do about the vaginas today?” It’s not about romantic love, but it just goes to show you that some people who are turned off by what I do can come around to it.

Tell us about your work treating victims of sex trafficking at Manhattan’s EMPOWER clinic.

人们认为性交易在其他国家是一个问题，但他们没有意识到在美国皇后区有一个巨大的奴隶交易，因为他们大声叫喊。我还认为，人们可以想象性交易会给人带来巨大的精神创伤，但也有可能恢复过来。

你能举一个你看到的病人从某种虐待中康复的例子吗？

I saw a patient who did not report domestic violence to me (they often don’t report it to doctors), but the next year she came back and told me her husband had been abusive and she put an end to it. I asked her how. She said that when she got here from Mexico, she realized that women [in New York] were empowered, that she was making her own money and didn’t have to take [it] anymore. And she called the police on her husband. After that, he never hit her again. She laughed and told me, “阿霍拉·索伊·奎勒·洛斯·潘塔隆！”(“我现在穿裤子的人!”)。I loved it so much I wrote it on a sticky note and put it up in my office for, like, a year.

You’re about to leave New York, again, and head to Sudan with MSF for a month. What are your goals for the trip? What helps you as you travel?

我的目标只是重新认识做一名医生的基本要素——基本的救命医学，而不是让我们忘记为什么要这样做的文书工作和官僚作风。帮助我的是，当我写博客时，你们都在阅读。

Ades’ blog can be found atblogs.msf.org/en/staff/blogs/love-labor-loss.