In the News

Shawn Monteiro has helped raise over $10,000 for charity and clinically care for hundreds of patients in need, but the most impactful of his accomplishments as a Rocket may be years away from aiding anyone.

After all, medical device patents are not granted overnight.

The Bioengineering senior and Jesup Scott Honors College student is, however, well on his way to achieving that rigorously evaluated distinction. Monteiro’s prototype for immobilizing hands during a surgical operation has already secured provisional patent status.

This summer, Physician Assistant (PA) students from the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies (SONPA) embarked on a service-learning trip to Guatemala with Global Medical Brigades, gaining invaluable experience while making a lasting impact in underserved communities.

The students, Jessica Delton ’28 from Hebron, CT; Ashley Hammond ’28 from Commack, NY; Andy Ruiz ’29 from Bellerose, NY; Kirsten Brunner ’27 from Massapequa Park, NY; and Tausif Bhuiyan ’28 from Jamaica, NY, worked alongside local medical professionals to provide care, education, and support to residents in rural areas with limited access to health care.

Holding babies, sharing food, playing soccer with local schoolchildren. These are just a few of the memories that students who have participated in Global Medical Brigades cherish. Here are a few more: working hard, building trust, and changing lives—one at a time.

With chapters at colleges across the United States and internationally, Global Medical Brigades connects college-student volunteers with experienced medical professionals to run temporary clinics in areas with little or no access to health care. The organization works with the same communities over time, at the request of local leaders, to implement sustainable changes that aim to render this kind of intervention unnecessary.

At Brooklyn College, the program exists as a student-driven club for those interested in medicine, public health, and global service. For more than a decade, it has provided students the opportunity to take part in a weeklong medical mission called a brigade.

O’Mara is heading to medical school as an Outstanding Senior in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise and a recipient of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Madelynn Todd Trailblazer Award.

O’Mara didn’t start college planning to become a doctor. In fact, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study.

“I came in undecided and thought maybe I’d go into environmental science,” she said. “Medicine felt like a path my parents had taken, not necessarily my own.”

But after traveling to Ghana with Virginia Tech’s chapter of Global Medical Brigades and joining the Christiansburg Rescue Squad her freshman year, she knew that working in patient care was in her future.

A group of Ohio Northern University business students capped off their senior year with a learning experience that helped make one corner of the world better.

“We are always looking for those win-win-win projects, where the client wins, the University wins, and the students win,” said Jaume Franquesa, Ph.D., associate professor of management, and advisor for the senior capstone project for management majors in the Dicke College of Business Administration. Seniors in the College need to complete a capstone project as part of the curriculum.

This year, nine students organized in two teams worked with a collective of coffee producers in Honduras to develop better ways to market their coffee within their own country. The collaboration was virtual so students, farmers, government coffee experts, and the others involved met and brainstormed ideas online.

One of the main goals is to help rural businesses expand into new avenues, such as agritourism, while adopting more efficient organizational practices. During the pilot trip in January, one group of students collaborated with a local farmer in the rural community of Membrillo. They assisted in developing plans to attract visitors and promoting sustainable farming practices.

“They understood my ideas and helped bring my vision to life.” said Demetrio Martínez, owner, Finca La Bendición. “They worked so hard to organize a project that is now beginning to take shape in the way we hoped and envisioned. We’re now working on aspects to satisfy both locals and tourists, while also making connections with international organizations. I’ve already received calls, and local organizations are reaching out for visits. We’re moving forward with this long-awaited project, and it’s truly extraordinary.”

Through this collaborative effort, the team created a foundation for long-term business expansion, while building a bridge between both cultures.

James Madison University Global Medical Brigades 3rd Annual Shamrock 5k is a 5k with a deeper purpose. Global Medical Brigades is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization that connects people in developing nations to healthcare through the establishment of clinics, facilities, and resources. Here at James Madison University, a chapter of this organization was created two years ago by Elizabeth Manning and Kayci Carrier, now our former President and current Vice President. Two years ago, with the help of the fundraising team and their efforts to start the tradition of a 5k fundraiser for the organization, they were able to send over 20 volunteers on a week-long brigade to Honduras to volunteer and serve in the community through medical care.

A University of Cincinnati College of Medicine faculty member is working to buck a trend by creating sustainable funding models for global oral health initiatives.

Priyanka Gudsoorkar hopes to help organizations consciously move away from what is referred to as “parachuting” and “voluntourism” trends and to instead create impactful global cooperation with sustained funding that also utilizes knowledge exchanges, skill transfers and meaningful volunteering.

Several University of Mary Washington students spent a few of the first days of 2025 in Central America helping individuals of Panama with essential health care services.

Katrina Zaki, a senior biomedical sciences major and vice president of UMW’s chapter of Global Medical Brigades (GMB), and several fellow Eagles collaborated with the international nonprofit to provide sustainable medical solutions and education in remote and underserved communities.

“I found my GMB experience humbling and am so grateful to be able to help individuals and be surrounded by others who care just as much as I do about health care,” said Zaki, who is also in UMW’s pre-physician assistant program. “The Panamanians are some of the most kindhearted people and I cannot wait to go on the next brigade.”

University of Mary Washington senior Katrina Zaki spent some of the first days of the year in Central America, thousands of miles from home, helping people she’d never met.

Zaki, a biomedical sciences major and vice president of UMW’s chapter of Global Medical Brigades (GMB), was part of a group of Mary Washington students who kicked off 2025 in collaboration with the international nonprofit to bring essential health care services, sustainable medical solutions and education to remote and underserved communities.