Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service
Awarded to individuals whose broad contributions to Christian ministry have made an immeasurable impact.
Rebekah Naylor
BA ’64, MD
Rebekah Naylor (BA '64, MD) is a retired Baptist medical missionary and current distinguished professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Naylor spent more than 35 years serving as a general surgeon, evangelist and church planter in India. Devoting 28 of those years to the people of Bangalore, Naylor worked as chief of medical staff, administrator and medical superintendent in the Bangalore Baptist Hospital. She also oversaw construction of the Rebekah Ann Naylor School of Nursing in 1996, served as a professor of anatomy and physiology at the school and celebrated the first class of nursing graduates in 1999.
Upon her return to the United States, Naylor joined the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, taught in the surgery department and was later named associate clinical professor of surgery where she served until her retirement in 2010. She then began work as a global health care consultant for Baptist Global Response, transitioning this role in 2019 to the International Mission Board where she continues mobilization of health care professionals and students, training and encouraging health strategies worldwide that bring people to faith in Jesus Christ.
Naylor became Southwestern Seminary’s permanent missionary-in-residence and the Seminary’s first-ever female distinguished professor in August 2020.
