Uganda 2018
I am headed to Uganda this spring and have launched a nonprofit called Global Medical and Surgical Teams. Click here to check out our new website!
Kenya 2017
In October 2017 Sarah, Deb and I traveled to Kijabe, Kenya for another cleft lip/palate surgical mission trip. Click the link for a brief photo journal.
Kenya 2015
In October 2015 I returned to Kenya and was accompanied by Sarah, who has worked with me in my practice for almost twenty years. She was an incredible asset to our team and to the patients.
Ecuador 2015
Zambia 2014
In April 2014, I returned to Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia with Dr. Joe Clawson.
Zambia 2013
April 2013, Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia with Dr. Joe Clawson.
Zambia 2012
April 2012, Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia with Dr. Joe Clawson. On this trip we were accompanied by our own photographer and videographer, my oldest daughter!
Kenya 2011
This trip was with World Medical Mission and headed by Dr. David Chang. Dr. Chang is on staff at my residency alma mater, The University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri, as a facial plastic surgeon. Our main focus was to help chldren with cleft lips and palates, and we saw patients in the ENT clinic as well. We operated at another CURE hospital, similar to the CURE hospital I visited in Lusaka, Zambia last Spring.
Zambia 2011
In April 2011, I traveled to Lusaka, Zambia, with Dr. Joe Clawson, a wonderful surgeon and mentor. He has taken medical mission trips for over 20 years and has performed more than 2400 cleft lip and palate operations. His travels have taken him to Mexico, Ecuador, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Zimbabwe. This was the first trip to Zambia for both of us. We had a wonderful experience at the Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka. The Staff at the hospital were very professional and very dedicated to the care of these children. Read more about this mission trip experience, which included a visit to the hospital by Zambian President, Rupia Banda.
Mexico 2008
In July 2008, I traveled with T.I.M.E. For Christ on a fantastic medical mission trip to Mexico. We drove from San Antonio, Texas, in a caravan of vans and trucks. We took everything with us (think MASH unit) and set up a hospital in a school in Tlaola, Mexico in the mountains of Puebla State. The team consisted of doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, an X-ray tech, a pharmacist, engineers, pastors, cooks, drivers, and several families with teenaged children. Surgical specialties were represented including otolaryngology, gynecology, general surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery. Family physicians, pediatricians and internists manned a clinic. Over 3,000 patients were seen in the clinic and around two hundred surgical procedures. The most common procedures were vaginal hysterectomies and tonsillectomies but the most visibly life-changing procedure done was the cleft lip repair. This procedure changes the child’s life most certainly. But, it also changes the family’s life. In this particular region of Mexico, these families may be shunned or ostracized as there is a misconception that the parents did something to “deserve” their child’s deformity. By repairing the cleft lip, the child and the family are able to enjoy a normal life. These are a few photos from that trip. T.I.M.E. For Christ has been taking medical mission trips to Mexico twice a year for over forty years. Sadly, the violence in Mexico has forced the cancellation of the Summer 2011 trip. My thoughts are with the thousands of patients who might have been helped and I pray that the future will bring peace and healing to this country.