Other Border Crossings
Dr. Jeannette Wong-Powell was invited by the Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina (Areandina) to travel to their Bogotá campus as a visiting scholar in September to collaborate with students and faculty. During her visit, Dr. Wong-Powell gave multiple academic lectures, co-led a service-learning clinical experience, served as a reviewer for a scientific article, and began working with colleagues on a manuscript titled "The Effects of Providing Advanced Training to Optometry Students through Eye Care Outreach." By the time Dr. Wong-Powell arrived in Bogotá, she had already established strong relationships with many faculty members, having spent months preparing and connecting through virtual platforms. Dr. Wong-Powell’s visit took our relationship with a valued sister school to yet another level and opened up the possibility for collaboration, including in fields outside of her field of optometry. Dr. Wong-Powell will likely be crossing borders again in the near future, being that she is an approved Fulbright Specialist, with a tenure that extends into the spring of 2026.
This fall marked the launch of a year-long training program by UIW’s Center for Medical Tourism Research (CMTR) in collaboration with the Mexican federal government’s Secretaría de Economía and Secretaría de Turismo. The program is designed to help business leaders and doctors in the medical field work together to develop regional industry clusters that will attract more medical tourists and improve services and infrastructure in regions throughout Mexico. With over 90 industry professionals enrolled in the program, a second section of the program will open in February at the request of Mexico’s Secretaría de Turismo (SECTUR). Course lectures are delivered mainly virtually, due to the geographic disbursement of participants, representing more than 10 states across Mexico. Nonetheless, Dr. Vequist traveled to Mexico City to deliver a preliminary session at the Secretaría de Economía headquarters, and to the city of Tijuana, to offer one of his training sessions in person at the Baja California Third Medical and Health Forum and Expo.
Under the leadership of the Ettling Center's Director, Dr. Ricardo González, a group of 15 nominated student leaders will participate in a service mission trip to San Cristóbal, Guanajuato, Mexico, from July 17 - 21, 2023. The service mission program includes leadership conversations with former President of Mexico Vicente Fox and his wife, Marta Fox, who both continue to spearhead several service initiatives to help their community through their Centro Fox, a strategic partner of the Lewis Center of the Americas. In March of 2022, President Fox visited the UIW campus in San Antonio at the invitation of the Lewis Center, to help us launch the UIW Leaders of the Americas speaker series, delivering a speech titled "Immigration: Challenges and Opportunities for Our Next Generation of Leaders". During his visit, UIW and Centro Fox entered into the agreement of collaboration that has paved the way for Mr. Fox’s support of UIW programming such as this forthcoming study abroad program to Guanajuato.
This mission program does not complement a UIW course.
Email: studyabroad@uiwtx.edu for further information.
Note: Application is by nomination only.
During the Spring 2023 semester, Dr. Teresa Harrison’s Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management students engaged in a social entrepreneurship project with the women of the Shipibo Tribe in Perú. This tribe makes most of its money from its artisan goods, jewelry, tapestries, key chains, and purses, which are quality, hand-crafted products. The project in this course was to assist the Peruvian women with generating sales to provide capital for them to expand their business and to attract a client base to purchase their handmade products in order to sustain themselves. This was a wonderful opportunity for the students to learn what it might be like to be an entrepreneur.
Although the class has now concluded, everyone is welcome to purchase goods or make a donation by contacting Yesenia Alcala at yalcala@student.uiwtx.edu. Learn more about the women of the Shipibo tribe here: https://wgctravelblogue.wordpress.com/2019/05/31/solidarity-with-shipibo-women-from-the-amazon/. Questions about the project? Please contact Dr. Teresa Harrison at teresa.harrison@uiwtx.edu.
Dr. Rachel Pittman (Assistant Professor of Pharmacology) and Dr. Arunabh Bhattacharya (Associate Professor of Anatomy) in the Department of Clinical and Applied Sciences Education, and Dr. Leticia Vargas (Core Site Director) at the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine, led a medical mission program to Antigua and surrounding areas from June 3-10, 2023. This program offered the 16 participating UIWSOM medical students the opportunity to earn service-learning hours by assisting indigenous villagers through medical mission activities organized by DOCare physician, Dr. Thomas Shima. The mission provides a unique experience that truly encompasses the entire spectrum of medical care with limited resources. The participants were able to personally experience both the opportunities and challenges of third world medical care medicine, and also participated in cultural excursions in the surrounding area.
This mission program does not complement a UIW course; however, students earn service-learning hours required to graduate.
Email Dr. Rachel Pittman for further information.
Note: Applications are closed.
Dr. Erlinda López Rodríguez, Associate Professor, Community Health Education Program Director, in collaboration with UIW’s Ettling Center for Civic Leadership and Sustainability, and the Quijotes of San Antonio, once again led students from UIW’s professional schools on a service mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. This mission trip has become a yearly tradition that allows participants to partner with local medical professionals to provide care to patients in Oaxaca. This year, the interprofessional cross-border team treated over 2300 patients, providing everything from routine medical care to specialized services. They achieved this in only one week!
Lewis Center Fellow, Dr. James Creagan, is supporting the Texas Water Mission’s (TWM) ongoing project to dig water wells in underserved Honduran villages. The project was initiated in response to the devastation caused by hurricane Mitch back in 1998, which led to water quality problems and an outbreak of a cholera epidemic. Dr. Creagan was the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras during the hurricane, and was instrumental in executing the immediate emergency response, leveraging and helping to coordinate the resources of the U.S. military’s Southern Command. Dr. Creagan now continues to support the Honduran people by sitting on the Executive Team of the Texas Water Mission. For more information about the TWM’s project in Honduras, please go to the Texas Water Mission webpage.
June 2025 Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, Religious Studies,Dr. Monica Hernandez, Lecturer, Department of English, and Dr. Heather Barton-Weston, Associate Professor, Community Health Education, will lead the service mission program with local hosts Edwin Mendoza of Guatemala and Darlene Jasso, a UIW Com Arts graduate to Guatemala City and surrounding areas. This program offers students the opportunity to earn service-learning hours by assisting indigenous villagers through activities organized by the not-for-profit foundation, Little Angels of Mary. The mission program also included several cultural excursions, such as Antigua, a World Heritage City, Lake Atitlán (Panajachel), the ruins near Santa Apolonia, and much more! This 2025 mission continues the great work done in 2024. Please note that this program does not complement a UIW course. Interested students should email Sister Kirk at kirk@uiwtx.edu.
May 2024 Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, Professor of Religious Studies, and Dr. Beth Senne-Duff, Associate Professor of Nutrition, led a service mission program to Guatemala City and surrounding areas. This program offered students the opportunity to earn service-learning hours by assisting indigenous villagers through activities organized by the not-for-profit foundation, Little Angels of Mary.
May 2023 The mission program also included several cultural excursions, such as Antigua, a World Heritage City, Lake Atitlán (Panajachel), the ruins near Santa Apolonia, and much more!
To read Sister Martha's newsletters from the 2023 program, please click the volumes below.
Alexis Mischel, President of the DOCARE chapter of UIW’s School of Medicine, will lead medical students to Guatemala on a service mission program from June 9-16, 2025. DOCARE International is a medical outreach organization that has provided healthcare to underserved communities around the world since its founding in 1961. Students participating in this program will gain global experience while advancing the DOCARE mission of supporting underserved communities. Dr. Thomas Shima of the Methodist Health System will be accompanying the group and providing expert leadership, drawing on his vast international experience. For nearly 20 years Dr. Shima has traveled throughout Central America, South America, and Africa on medical mission trips, caring for families and children in small, remote villages with little access to medical care. His very first mission abroad was with DOCARE to Guatemala, making his return to the country all the more rewarding.
Alexis is grateful for the opportunity to serve while learning about the people and culture of Guatemala and seeing a new location. She also looks forward to using the language skills she acquired as a Spanish minor, and to meeting students from other U.S. states who will form part of the DOCARE cohort. Alexis has been in communication with these students during the pre-trip planning, as she is in charge of the student registration process. This administrative responsibility is one of several she has taken on in her DOCARE leadership role. Alexis was happy to give back to the program in this way, and it will provide her with valuable logistical planning experience. Furthermore, she knows she can count on the support of experts such as Dr. Shima and UIW’s
Director of International Affairs, Dr. Javier Lozano. Dr. Shima is handling the coordination of all accommodations, transportation and service activities on the ground n Guatemala. Meanwhile, Dr. Lozano has offered excellent guidance on pre-departure logistics such as the management of participants’ payments.
Completing a Guatemala service mission has been a goal of Alexis for several years. Her first attempt at reaching her goal was thwarted by COVID. In early 2020 she was all signed up and ready to go, but 3 days prior to her departure she learned that flights were cancelled due to COVID. Her anticipation has since then been building, and she feels like the forthcoming program is somewhat of a redemption mission! It will be her first medical mission abroad.
UIW medical students who are interested in this program can email Alexis Mischel at mischel@studentuiwtx.edu
Below are three images from the Guatemala mission trip that UIWSOM students completed in 2023.
Dr. Fajardo is Colombian and has been co-leading a pediatric medical mission to Neiva, Colombia, for 15 years. Although Dr. Fajardo now lives permanently in the United States, he maintains strong connections and relationships in Colombia. These have helped him advance the mission as part of the Healing the Children-Florida nonprofit organization. The Neiva mission, founded by his father 27 years ago, is the longest-running pediatric medical mission to one site in South America. During the program's 27 years, the mission’s medical and support team has provided free surgical care to over 4,000 children, along with speech therapy to cleft patients and hundreds of free dental care treatments. The program started with approximately 25 clinical staff members in 1993 and now includes over 100. The volunteer staff includes individuals from UT Health San Antonio, Staten Island University Hospital, Columbia College of Dentistry, Harvard Medical School and, of course, UIW. The diverse team, including medical students and U.S. and Colombian residents, works seamlessly with local physicians and staff. Beyond the obvious benefits to the patients receiving treatment, there are also wonderful benefits to the team providing care. Among these are the educational benefits. The mission program is, in fact, now integrated into the UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine curriculum.