Two students are preparing to travel next January to work at a hospice center in Zimbabwe.
Leadership in Medicine students Ankur Shah ’14 and Rahul Puttagunta ’14 will work with Island Hospice, assisting with research and monitoring evaluation activities being conducted at the hospice center through grants. The organization is working to bring HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis services to the home and community level, in addition to helping address the prevention of mother to child transmission.
Phil Di Sorbo ‘71, an international leader in community hospice services, is facilitating the independent study abroad. He became the first employee of Hospice of Schenectady, which was founded at the College in 1980. He later founded the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two student groups have previously done hospice trips to South Africa.
Carol Weisse, director of the Health Professions program, said the trip will give the students great experience in service and provide course credit in Union’s rigorous medicine program, which requires students to travel abroad.