Faith, theology and osteopathic medicine: How it all brought a student to TCOM
Vernon Gewa hails from Kenya, speaks and understands seven languages, is a trained
theologian who has three bachelor’s degrees, two master’s degrees, and a doctorate
in moral theology, and just so happens to be the oldest student in UNT Health at Fort
Worth’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Class of 2029. With age comes experience,
and when combined with Gewa’s stately wisdom, you get a trek to osteopathic medicine
that’s unlike any other.
Making his path even more unlikely was that Gewa was introduced to the profession by a TCOM alumnus in 2016; however, his path toward becoming a DO was laid decades ago.
“Being a theologian is a foundation for medicine,” Gewa said. “At the time I didn’t know, but God has a way; all of this, even theology, could and did lead me to this, to tell the truth. I didn’t know all of this could lead me to a DO school, to osteopathic medicine, but it really aligns with my theological training. Theology gave me the humanistic part of it, and medicine is going to give me the physiologic part of it, and osteopathic medicine brings all of that together.”
Born in Kenya, Gewa can recall the day his father began prodding him and asking if he wanted to pursue a career in medicine while he was still in high school, but Gewa had his sights set on something else.
After earning his first degree in economics, he went off to Rome, Italy, to study at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross for a second bachelor’s degree in sacred theology, which was followed by a master’s and doctorate in moral theology in 2009 from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. Gewa began teaching theology in Kenya and then in Spain.
It was in 2014; Gewa had what he called “maybe a midlife crisis,” and theology wasn’t his calling anymore. He considered medicine for a time.
“The University of Navarre has a very good medical school, and I used to volunteer to spend time in the cancer ward with terminally ill patients when I was pursuing my doctoral degree there,” Gewa said. “I saw the close collaboration the teams had, the researchers and doctors, and I said if I were to change my profession, I would do medicine.”
He decided to make a switch, but not for medicine, at least not yet. Gewa went back
to school for degree number four, this time a master’s in supply chain logistics.
Gewa started working for a company in Spain in 2015 and, a year later, moved to Houston
as the company expanded.
It was also during this time that Gewa would discover, or rather rediscover, an old friend. He was spending time with his elder sister in Fairfax, Virginia, while reminiscing about friends from elementary school in Kenya. One name in particular popped into his head: Linda.
Divine providence was working that day. As Gewa went home, he fired up his Facebook account and had a friend request…from Linda.
They connected, traded phone numbers, began a long-distance relationship, and in 2016 would be married. Linda was in health care herself, a physician assistant working in Fort Worth with Dr. Alex Guevara Jr., a 1985 graduate of TCOM.
Gewa was having some back pain at the time and went to see Dr. Guevara for help. He did more than help Gewa.
“He treated me with OMM (osteopathic manipulative medicine), something I had never heard of at all,” Gewa said. “It fixed me, and as soon as he did, I started to wonder about this and learn more about osteopathic medicine. I loved it—mind, body, and spirit. That’s what I wanted to do.”
“I had been a theologian and a teacher,” Gewa said. “You talk to people, and I wanted something that could give me a chance to interact, and medicine gives you that chance. I really wanted that patient relationship, and that comes from my background as a theologian.”
With three degrees and a doctorate, getting into school was going to be easy for Gewa, or at least you would have thought that. Before he could take any pre-med classes or enroll, he had to pass the GED.
Gewa was still working full-time, so after passing the GED, he began taking pre-med classes part-time at Tarrant Community College in the evening in 2018. In 2021, he transferred to UNT in Denton to start working on his fifth degree, this one in biology with a minor in chemistry and Spanish, language number seven. He was already thinking about medical school by 2023 and TCOM in particular.
When TCOM hosted Black Men in White Coats in 2022, Gewa was in attendance and was
impressed from the beginning with the school. He came back to the open house events
in 2023 and 2024 on the invitation from Rebeca Perfecto, UNT Health’s director of
recruitment.
“She was always coming to UNT to talk about TCOM,” Gewa said. “I really liked the
school and everything about osteopathic medicine.”
Gewa, who spoke English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Swahili, and Luo and had degrees, was a hot commodity. He was offered seats at multiple medical schools, but when he matched at TCOM on Valentine’s Day in 2025, his decision was made. What else has already been decided is to give back to his home in Kenya.
“One thing that is close to my heart is to be a good doctor, of course, but also so I can make medicine and give back to society,” Gewa said “My wife is from Kenya; my younger sister is there. I did some medical missions as a translator to Kenya, and I want to go back at least once a year as a physician to give back.”
“There are many people who don’t have annual checkups; they can’t afford them, and most of the time they don’t have access to them,” he said. “This is a way of giving back to society.”
Gewa isn’t waiting to give back either. He and his wife are very active in helping to provide access to clean water, and they are also teaching families in the rural areas of Kisumu good agricultural methods to help with food insecurity.
“It’s about giving back to society,” said Gewa. “I want to help teach doctors because that’s another way as well of giving back, getting into academic medicine. I’ve been a teacher, and it’s a passion of mine.”
Gewa occasionally thinks back to the time his father was encouraging him to think about medicine in high school. Even though it has been nearly 20 years since his father passed away, and as Gewa said, his father had the last word.
“Dad, you were right.”