Doctor who’s helped thousands of children in poverty was set on the right path by Leicester Medical School

A doctor who has improved the lives of thousands of children in desperate poverty has put part of her success down to her time at the University of Leicester’s Medical School.

Mary Cusack’s life changed on a trip to India in 2006, when she and her partner and fellow doctor, Cat Morris, were shocked by the devastating scenes of poverty in India.

“The area was plagued with endemic violence against women and children, and a pervading lack of compassion in healthcare,” said Mary.

“We saw gross medical misconduct towards children, whether through corruption, ignorance or apathy. There were some horrendous things happening, like doctors injecting children with dirty water, and a basic lack of medical supplies and care led to a very high death rate in the young. We knew we couldn’t turn our backs on these kids.”

Mary and Cat co-found the Love The One charity in 2007, initially setting up a makeshift health clinic in an old sheep shed.

“We were in the middle of a dangerous rebel-controlled area, there was zero healthcare and people were coming to us from miles around with sick babies,” said Mary.

Within two-and-a-half years, the pair had successfully treated around 3,000 children suffering from common conditions which, left untreated, would kill – such as malaria, eye and skin complaints, diarrhoea, TB, pneumonia and typhoid.

The pair were eventually forced to leave the region due to westerners being kidnapped by terrorists. But undeterred, Mary and Cat relocated the charity to Odisha state – and it was there that Mary’s experiences at Leicester Medical School came to the fore.

She said: “At Leicester, the training we received didn’t just focus on the clinical work – the holistic side of care was very much central to teaching.

“We learned that to make somebody better, you need an understanding of their home life, their background and lots of other factors.

“This really struck me as I reflected on the children we had helped when we started the charity. I thought, what’s the point in us saving the lives of these children, only to see them return to a cycle of domestic violence, or to be sold into prostitution and slavery? We had a new focus, to treat them holistically, by improving their lives in the communities where they live.”

The key to this was to educate and empower the women in the communities, who then were able to run their own creche and pre-school care centres, where under-fives could play, be educated, have their health monitored and essentially, be set up for a happier and healthier life. Six of these centres have now been established, along with a clinic and a school.

“Our model is simple and easy to replicate, and our existing local staff are able to train up new local staff,” said Mary. “Our focus now is to secure sustainable funding to try and roll out the initiative to other areas.”

She added: “We have helped to break to poverty cycle a little in Odisha. Where once children, and especially girls, had no future, we now have many who go to college, who are passing the equivalent of our GCSEs. It’s remarkable and it’s down to the grassroots movement, of the community helping itself.

“My time at Leicester Medical School sowed those first seeds in my mind on how to help people more effectively, and I’m so happy to have put it all into practice.”

Leicester Medical School is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025.