This past school year, 16 Stony Brook students traveled on medical missions to countries such as Columbia, Panama and Nigeria. Several were supported by scholarships from the Stony Brook Alumni Association. Eight students traveled to Peru and set up a traveling medical clinic at the top of a mountain village where they saw patients of all ages—they treated a man for a post-surgical work-up, a ten-year-old boy with severe congenital glaucoma, practiced general pediatric care and took patient histories. They also learned to work with local Peruvian specialists and how to improvise in the field. Despite the language barrier, the students worked hard to make sure their patients’ needs were met. Many of the patients—some of whom hadn’t seen a doctor in more than five years—left the clinic with a smile after their interactions with the students.
