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Issue: Spring 2016 | Posted: April 25, 2016

Omar Hamada

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Distinguished Achievement in Healthcare

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For Omar Hamada, the ������������ path is one that involves building numerous side roads to pursue medicine, music and ministry.

Although he graduated from Union in 1986 with his Bachelor of Science degree, which led to earning his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Hamada learned trying to limit his interests was not what God had planned for him.

“For years I tried to live like others wanted me to, focusing on one thing,” Hamada says. “But it drove me crazy.”

Hamada explains God gives everyone different gifts, and while some are called to give all their attention to one talent or skill, some are meant to pursue variety. In everything, though, Hamada says, “The purpose here is to change culture, the hearts and minds of people, toward Christ on a large scale.”

Currently, Hamada is the medical director in the Emergency Department at Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia, Tennessee. He describes himself as always being “entrepreneurial in thought,” leading to the creation of several small businesses and organizations. But his heart, Hamada says, is in Radical Surrender Ministries.

“It’s an organization based on discipling men,” Hamada says. “Men are disheartened and lost in many ways. We’re really focused on trying to help guys figure out how to live and lead well in our families and communities.”

Hamada, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Army, also works with Security and Survival Solutions, which provides “training in survival, tactical shooting and disaster planning,” alongside a team of “high caliber, special operations combat veterans.”

“There’s no singular goal that I can look back and say, ‘that’s the highlight of my life’,” Hamada says. “It’s just a continual day to day, staying faithful, following God and influencing as many people as I can along the way.”