Every summer U.S. physicians and medical students travel to developing countries performing charitable work and learning firsthand about the delivery of primary health care on a shoestring. My teenage daughter and I joined a Stanford-led team of pediatricians, infectious disease specialists, and medical students last August in the rural Kaqchikel-speaking communities of Guatemala. We captured our unforgettable journey in a series of photographs that show how a handful of determined medical volunteers working alongside indigenous health workers is able to transform humble resources—a pickup truck, a binful of medical supplies, a makeshift clinic—into vital health outcomes.

At the volunteers’ home base in the town of San Lucas Toliman (1) an earlymorning gathering of medical trainees from Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia combs through donated medical supplies, organizing them for deployment in the field. Bronwyn Baz, MD (standing center), a Stanford pediatric resident, is on her fourth visit to the area and serves as a team leader. FSI’s Cross-Campus International Fund is sponsoring her trip to Guatemala this summer.¹

Patients crowd into the makeshift clinic, set up that day in the dusty outbuilding of a local elementary school (2) as part of an organized program of health services. Devin Briski (seated), a 16-year-old volunteer from Menlo School, searches the village’s patient records, while Stanford medical student Kimberly Montez stands behind her, ready to see her first patient. Working with the health promoters from the village, the clinic was able to serve 100 or more villagers in a single day.

Stanford infectious disease specialist Manual Amieva (3) examines a child as Harvard medical students Norris Kamo and Shanthini Kasturi gain valuable primary care skills under the close supervision of Amieva and other physicians. The students encounter a variety of medical problems, from severe scabies to epilepsy. Gastrointestinal infection and diarrhea are particularly insidious and widespread health threats.

With tooth decay rampant, volunteers try to schedule regular visits to local schools to administer prophylactic fluoride treatments (4) and dispense basic dental supplies, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, to children.

¹FSI welcomes donor participation in its cross-campus international fund to help sponsor medical trainees' travel to Guatemala and other developing countries as part of the Stanford School of Medicine's commitment to international health.