Palau, a sovereign nation in the Indo-Pacific Region of the world, is approximately 8,265 miles from Detroit. Yet, native Detroiter and U.S. Navy Commander Dr. Gale K. Goodlow II have made a significant medical impact on the people in the region. As a member of the elite Pacific Partnership 24-1 (PP24-1) team, Goodlow, a pediatric anesthesiologist, is part of a larger multinational group dedicated to addressing humanitarian conditions and disaster responses in the Republic of Palau to ensure a more secure Indo-Pacific.
Goodlow’s work with PP24-1 involves collaborations with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase regional security stability, and foster new and enduring friendships. Amid the multinational humanitarian mission in December 2023 – the 19th iteration – and continuing into 2024, the collaborative initiatives have brought together specialty personnel from the United States Navy, Army, and Coast Guard in partnership with Japan’s Maritime, Ground, and Air Self-Defense Forces, the Royal Australian Navy, and the German Navy, all working together in a massive humanitarian operation to help the Republic of Palau and neighboring countries and territories.
“A foundational goal of Pacific Partnership is working side-by-side with local partners to build medical and host-nation capacity,” said Capt. Brian Quin, mission commander of the Pacific Partnership 24-1. “We did just that here in Palau, and I am proud of the work Palauans and our mission team accomplished in a short amount of time.”
According to Navy press information, the PP24-1’s Indo-Pacific endeavors accounted for more than 132 medical engagements. The Pacific Partnership medical team, including Goodlow, conducted dozens of surgeries aboard the United States Naval Ship Mercy (the third largest hospital ship in the world) and at the Belau National Hospital and Pohnpei State Hospital.
Goodlow’s desire to help people began while growing up on Detroit’s west side near Wyoming Avenue. According to Goodlow’s younger brother, Guye Goodlow, Gale wanted to become a doctor after watching the many episodes of The Cosby Show starring Bill Cosby. The sitcom featured the television character Dr. Cliff Huxtable, who served in the U.S. Navy before attending medical school to become an OB/GYN. The show aired from 1984 to 1992 when Gale Goodlow was a young and impressionable kid.
“Seeing Dr. Huxtable on television as a Black man and a medical doctor inspired Gale,” Guye told the Michigan Chronicle. “He saw himself one day becoming a medical doctor – and he made it happen.”
Guye said his brother, as a kid growing up, understood the academic requirements necessary to become a medical doctor and worked diligently to achieve excellent grades in school in pursuit of his dream. However, while Gale was a stellar student who excelled in science, math, and other subjects, Guye said his brother was also an outstanding football player at Renaissance High School, where he played several offensive and defensive positions.
“On the back of my brother’s varsity high school jacket, the wording on it was ‘Universal Soldier’ because that’s what he was on the Renaissance football team,” said Guye. “You could put him at any position and he would deliver.”
After graduating from Renaissance in 2001, Gale Goodlow, according to Guye, attended the Naval Academy Prep School in Rhode Island before attending the storied United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He played football at the Academy for two years before graduating in 2005. Goodlow subsequently attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, where he received his Doctor of Medicine degree (M.D.) in 2009. The school is a federal health professions academy.
Goodlow completed his residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., specializing in anesthesiology. He was also a Fellow attached to various pediatric anesthesiology research projects at the University of Michigan. Goodlow, a U.S. Navy Commander and doctor, is a board-certified anesthesiologist licensed to practice in Maryland, California, Montana, Michigan, and wherever the U.S. Navy sends him.
Guye credits his father, Kirk Goodlow, a minister and the first Black principal of Hamtramck High School, for raising three sons: Gale, Guye, and Gigg, who all graduated from Renaissance. Their mother, said Guye, died in 1988.
Guye, a former defensive tackle at Missouri State and Wayne State, holds an MBA and is CEO of the Detroit-based nonprofit Renaissance City Chargers Athletic Association, which manages the Renaissance City Chargers Amateur Football Team. The youngest of the Goodlow brothers, Gigg Goodlow, lives on the East Coast and is an educator with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Rutgers University Law School.
“Our father wasn’t’ having any nonsense from his three sons,” Guye said with a laugh. “He kept us focused on excelling in life. Our father, who has a Ph.D. from Wayne State, raised us to be men of God, value education, excel at sports, and help and empower other people. We all grew up as members of what was once Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church on Woodward Ave. in Detroit.”
While Guye is not privy to knowing every military move made by his brother overseas through the Navy, he knows that wherever Gale is assigned in conjunction with the Pacific Partnership 24-1 initiative or other military-related assignments, he will provide the very best medical help to individuals in need, whether it’s in the Indo-Pacific Region or beyond.
“Gale is an all-American guy and wants to serve his country in the Navy by utilizing his medical training and skills,” said Guye. “He married his high school sweetheart, and they have two boys. I’m just so proud of him…he has been my role model all my life. If I didn’t have such an outstanding brother who positively influenced me when I was growing up, I don’t know where I would be today.”
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