VCOM 2016 Annual Report

MEETING OUR MISSION — OUTCOMES

Being a part of something bigger

“It will be great to watch them fall in love with medical missions, too, just like I did as a member of the inaugural class at VCOM–Virginia so many years ago,” he added. “It’s one of the best ways to help them make sense of why they are going through all these long hours of lectures, studying and tests. Additionally, we have some exciting research projects in the works at our sites that will hopefully serve to improve

N ow up to sixteen trips and counting, Jeremy J. White, DO, PhD, has been traveling with VCOM on medical and disaster relief missions since participating in a disaster relief mission to India in February 2005. Recently, he officially joined VCOM faculty as the Chair for Emergency Medicine and Medical Director for Dominican Republic Missions at the new VCOM–Auburn campus. He is scheduled to travel on four trips per year with students and faculty. Dr. White just completed his sixteenth trip in April, as a preceptor for the VCOM– Virginia campus mission trip to the Dominican Republic (DR). Dr. White’s first clinical rotation as a third-year student was a three-week trip spent working

care to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

to overall health of the communities we serve.”

He completed VCOM’s first DO/PhD program, spending a month at each of VCOM’s international sites and over six months in the DR studying scabies eradication using Ivermectin. He continued to travel on VCOM mission trips during his Emergency Medicine residency, helping VCOM faculty complete training programs in ATLS, ACLS, and First Responder for Dominican physicians, paramedics, nurses, police and teachers. “I very much look forward to taking our inaugural class of VCOM–Auburn students on their first mission trips,” said Dr. White.

“I was first called to medical mission trips because of a global disaster— the Indian Ocean Tsunami that struck Indonesia and Southern India in winter of 2005. VCOM announced they were mobilizing a team to travel to Pondicherry, India, and I knew I needed to be part of it. It was that trip that solidified my love for medical missions.” - Jeremy J. White, DO, PhD

alongside other VCOM students and faculty at a

makeshift field hospital in Pass Christian, Mississippi, offering

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