--- title: NYC Doctor With Ebola Described as a “Dedicated Humanitarian” description: Friends and colleagues have high praise for Craig Spencer as he begins a fight for his life canonical: https://time.com/3536480/nyc-doctor-ebola-spencer/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-24T12:46:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:25.219Z article:section: Health og:title: NYC Doctor With Ebola Described as a “Dedicated Humanitarian” og:description: Friends and colleagues have high praise for Craig Spencer as he begins a fight for his life og:url: https://time.com/3536480/nyc-doctor-ebola-spencer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaec885c5308563e4/6987629b8e06013d75457e56/new-york-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3300 og:image:height: 1856 og:image:alt: Doctor Quarantined At NYC's Bellevue Hospital After Showing Symptoms Of Ebola og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NYC Doctor With Ebola Described as a “Dedicated Humanitarian” twitter:description: Friends and colleagues have high praise for Craig Spencer as he begins a fight for his life twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaec885c5308563e4/6987629b8e06013d75457e56/new-york-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NYC Doctor With Ebola Described As a 'Dedicated Humanitarian' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=fef2807b-5d9a-44e9-b654-fb2e216c285a&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EJ3m56cA.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-10-02. Health officials in the US are using a method known as contact tracing, to see who is at risk from Ebola._  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Oct 24, 2014 12:46 PM UTC  A health alert is displayed at the entrance to Bellevue Hospital October 23, 2014 in New York City. A health alert is displayed at the entrance to Bellevue Hospital October 23, 2014 in New York City. Bryan Thomas—Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Oct 24, 2014 12:46 PM UTC The New York City-based doctor who [tested](http://online.wsj.com/articles/new-york-doctor-diagnosed-with-ebola-a-dedicated-humanitarian-1414125831) positive for Ebola Thursday after working with virus patients in the West African country of Guinea is a high achiever and a “dedicated humanitarian,” the hospital where he works said in a statement. Dr. Craig Spencer “is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first,” said a statement from New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, where Spencer serves as an emergency room doctor. Before being diagnosed with Ebola, Spencer had been working with humanitarian aid group Doctor’s Without Borders fighting the virus’ outbreak in West Africa. Spencer, 33, [left](http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/23/health/ebola-craig-spencer/) Guinea, one of the countries hardest hit by the recent Ebola outbreak, on Oct. 14\. Spencer returned to the U.S. via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Oct. 17\. He began showing symptoms on Thursday, Oct. 23, when his temperature was [recorded](https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/525623361981140992) at a slightly elevated 100.3 degrees fahrenheit, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday morning, clarifying widespread reports Thursday that Duncan’s temperature was above 103 degrees. Ebola can incubate undetected in the body for up to 21 days before an infected person shows symptoms. Ebola patients are not contagious until they show symptoms, and they become increasingly contagious as they get more sick. Spencer graduated from Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, studied Chinese language and literature at Henan University in China, earned a medical degree from Detroit’s Wayne State University School of Medicine and, in 2008, started his residency in New York, becoming a fellow at the Columbia University Medical Center’s International Medicine Program, according to information drawn from his LinkedIn profile by The Wall Street _Journal_. Spencer’s LinkedIn page has since been taken down. “He was an outstanding student, humanitarian, excellent physician,” one of Spencer’s professors told the _Journal_. “He’s done a lot of good international work. He had been to parts of the world—marginalized, disenfranchised—working to improve the human condition.” According to a friend who met Spencer through the website Couchsurfing, which connects travelers with free places to stay, he’s a runner who plays the banjo and speaks French, Chinese and Spanish. ## Transcript Now that the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed on American soil, what's next? How can we keep the virus from spreading? Health officials are now turning to a process known as contact tracing to figure out who else might have been exposed to the virus. The likeliest candidates are the medical technicians who treated him. That's because Ebola is spread by direct contact with bodily fluids, which health workers could have come in contact with while treating the patient. Beyond that are the patient's family members or people who have been living in close quarters with him since he developed the symptoms, including fever. Vomiting or diarrhea. These people will be monitored for 21 days, which is the incubation period of Ebola, to see if they develop similar symptoms. They won't be quarantined, but they might be asked to avoid traveling out of the country and spending time in crowded public areas. If anyone in either of these rings appears infected. Health officials will extend their monitoring to include anyone those people have been in contact with. Including their family members, school classmates, or work colleagues, until no more Ebola symptoms are discovered. Beyond that, if people in this ring appear infected, they too would be monitored for symptoms for 21 days, and the analysis would spread to their contacts. The passengers on the patient's flights from Liberia to the US aren't considered at high risk of exposure, since he was not experiencing symptoms then. Of course, all of this depends on honest and accurate information from the patient and his contacts about where they have been and with whom. Something that has been an issue in West Africa. There the stigma against Ebola has led patients to flee health volunteers who are attempting to trace contacts or fail to report people they have interacted with. 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