Helmut Diefenthal

In 2014, at the age of 90, Diefenthal retired from full-time work in Tanzania and moved back to the U.S. with Rotraut. Diefenthal continued to support the KCMC School of Radiology, by fund raising and developing training materials. He died in June 2019 at the age of 95.

In 1993 Helmut founded the Kilimanjaro School of Radiology, where non-M.D. medical professionals could become certified Assistant Medical Officers (AMOs) in radiology. Helmut also started a Radiology Residency Program for physicians. In the 14 years, since the first class of residents graduated in 2002, these two programs have produced15 M.D. radiologists and 105 AMOs. In 2016, there were three radiologists, who had been trained by Helmut, carrying on his work at KCMC.

After retiring from the Veterans Hospital in 1988, Helmut and Rotraut returned to Tanzania, as self-supporting missionaries at KCMC, with the long-term goal of improving radiology in Tanzania. Helmut worked as a radiologist and professor of radiology at Tumaini University. During this period, he brought ultrasound to the KCMC.

In 1965, a new hospital was being planned in Moshi, Tanzania; it would be called the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC). In order to be able to work in the KCMC radiology department, Diefenthal needed to complete a residency in radiology; so Diefenthal and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he completed his second residency. While the family was in Minnesota, Rotraut become a radiographer. In 1971, they returned to Tanzania and ran the radiology department in their respective disciplines. After two years at KCMC, they returned to Minnesota, working at the Veterans Hospital.

Carl Helmut Diefenthal (March 20, 1924 – June 30, 2019) was a German-born American medical missionary, serving first in Malaysia, and then in Tanzania, East Africa. In recognition of his services, he received two humanitarian awards: the first in 2015, the American College of Radiology (ACR) Global Humanitarian Award, and the second in 2016, International Society of Radiology (ISR) Béclére Medal. He was also awarded the ACR Honorary Fellowship in 2003.

Diefenthal was born in March 1924, in Berlin, Germany, and was conscripted into the German Army during World War II. After the war, Diefenthal earned his medical degree from the Free University of Berlin, in 1949. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at, Wenckebach Hospital in Berlin, in 1955, and in 1952 during his residency, he married Rotraut Garstka. In 1956, they accepted a position with the Lutheran Church of America, and began their missionary life together in Malaysia. After four years of medical service at outpatient clinics in Malaysia, the family moved to East Africa, serving at a remote Lutheran hospital in Gonja,Tanzania.