Medical mission trips teach students culturally compassionate health care

“This was my first time dispensing Albendazole,” Canales says. “My favorite moment was crushing up the medication, putting it in applesauce and feeding it to a baby.”

She was one of 17 PharmD students from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences who spent their winter break on medical mission trips abroad. The Global Health Initiatives program, now in its seventh year, gives students hands-on experience beyond the classroom.

“As our local population becomes more diverse, students really need to be able to understand that there are differences in access to and delivery of health care,” says Gina Prescott, PharmD, director of the program. “Our curriculum focuses heavily on servant leadership—putting other people first—and these trips really reinforce that.”

The annual medical mission trips are a collaboration of the health science schools at the University at Buffalo. Pharmacy students work side-by-side with more than 60 medical, nursing, dental and public health students to learn how to take a team approach to health care.

“I now realize the importance of working as a team,” Ali Mohammed (PharmD ’22) says. “It was an amazing experience to be able to communicate with the local physicians to promote the patient’s health. This was my first experience where I was able to directly work with a physician in person!”

UB faculty members and alumni accompany the students as mentors on the trips, though students often take the lead quickly. “Once students get this hands-on group experience, they start to realize how each team member contributes to the ultimate goal of a care plan for a patient,” Prescott says. "It's really amazing to watch the transformation from student to pharmacist."

The 2020 medical mission trips were funded in part by a highly successful crowdfunding campaign. Nearly $4,000 was donated by friends, family and alumni to offset student travel expenses and purchase medical supplies such as rubbing alcohol, bandages, eyedrops and face masks.

The generosity not only surprised students, but also inspired them to do all they could in the short time they were there.

“Each day of this trip, I remember thinking, ‘How I can contribute more to our clinic to help more people in need?’” says Min Chung (PharmD ’23).  “But in the end, what I gained from this journey was surely more than I gave.”

Students set up “pop-up clinics” during their trips, often in smaller villages far from major cities, and far from comforts like reliable electricity and drinkable water.

They transformed schools, churches and even playgrounds into one-stop medical treatment centers. Residents would start lining up in the middle of the night for the chance to get a cream to treat their eczema, receive an inhaler for asthma, or even take a pregnancy test.

14-hour days were not uncommon, but the time flew by.

“I’ve never counseled so many people in such a short period of time before,” says Evelyn Wang (PharmD ’22). “I realized that creativity and flexibility are important traits for pharmacists!”

Prescott thinks the gratitude of the patients is what students remember most, not necessarily the diseases treated or the exhaustion.

“Students don’t come back the same person they were when they left,” she said. “They come back with an appreciation for our health care system and a truly increased sense of empathy.”