In the News

Sara and Eric DeVecchis were pregnant with their first and only child in 2003.

Thomas DeVecchis was born with a bi-lateral cleft lip and palate, meaning he was born without a roof of his mouth, a protruding lip, and an irregular nostril, making it difficult for him to eat and breathe.

“You just adapt and do what you have to do to encourage him to feel better and hold him in a position that he was comfortable in,” Sara said. “We just prayed a lot and were supportive of each other.”

When Duffy Casey, MD (MD ’09), FACOG, was a high school senior, he was uncertain about his future. College seemed a distant dream, overshadowed by the immediate need to work multiple jobs to support his education.

“I might join the military or go to college; I’m not sure yet,” he confided one day to ‘Dr. Chuck’ — Charles Dietzen, MD, a regular customer at a coffee shop where Casey worked in the mornings before school. Dr. Chuck always arrived on his Harley motorcycle or in a Jeep Wrangler with the top down.

Dr. Chuck posed a question that would change Casey’s life: “Have you ever thought about being a doctor?”

The UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FSDE) congratulates Lilly O’Rielly for winning the prestigious C.D. Howe Scholarship Endowment Fund National Engineering Scholarship. She is one of two undergraduate engineering students in Canada to receive the renewable scholarship valued at $7,500 per year.

Since 2013, the C.D. Howe Endowment Fund has provided scholarships to students enrolled in an undergraduate engineering degree program at a Canadian university. Each institution can nominate up to two students entering their second year to apply for the scholarship. Applications are assessed on academic performance, volunteer and community involvement, and extracurricular activities, with special consideration for engineering-related activities.

Neurologist Daniel M. Mandel, MD has joined the United Hospital Center Neurology practice.

He began on his education path by graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Yeshiva University, New York, NY, before going onto New York Medical College in Westchester, NY, for his Medical Doctorate.

Internship in internal medicine, as well as his residency in Neurology, were taken at Brown University at the Rhode Island Hospital. Following that was a fellowship in vascular neurology at the University of Miami.

While growing up in Mexico, Kimberly Higuera dreamed of attending college in the United States and worked hard to make those dreams a reality. After earning her degree at NAU while balancing extracurricular leadership roles and a part-time job, Higuera wanted to give back to the community that had supported her—so she found a staff position in NAU’s Contact Center. Now, she’s off to Argentina with support from the prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program. Learn more about why she fell in love with Flagstaff, what’s pulling her toward Argentina and what’s on her bucket list.

The UPEI Global Brigades Medical Chapter recently returned from a successful trip to Ghana where they volunteered their service to public health projects and mobile medical clinics in underserved communities from May 25 to June 4, 2024.

Twenty-eight UPEI students took part in the Global Medical Brigades this year. Faculty advisor Inge Dorsey supported the students throughout the planning and organizing phase, and clinical nursing instructor Kerie Murphy accompanied them to Ghana. The students shared their volunteering experiences abroad during a public presentation held June 17 in the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering building.

The UPEI Global Brigades Medical Chapter recently returned from a successful trip to Ghana where they volunteered their service to public health projects and mobile medical clinics in underserved communities from May 25 to June 4, 2024.

Twenty-eight UPEI students took part in the Global Medical Brigades this year. Faculty advisor Inge Dorsey supported the students throughout the planning and organizing phase, and clinical nursing instructor Kerie Murphy accompanied them to Ghana. The students shared their volunteering experiences abroad during a public presentation held June 17 in the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering building.

Marquette’s Global Brigades Medical Chapter is seeking gently vintage Marquette T-shirts that are blue, yellow, white or gray in sizes small through 3XL for its trip to Panama over winter break.

Global Medical Brigades is an international movement of students and medical professionals working alongside local communities and staff to implement sustainable health systems. The organization works in remote, rural and underresourced communities in Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Ghana who would otherwise have limited to no access to health care.

Amador Valley High School teacher Tony Dennis recently shared this photo from last summer in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala for a service learning and cultural exchange trip with Global Brigades.

Avery Bourdonnay admits a part of her was a bit fearful before her recent visit to Meteti, Panama – she had never been outside of the United States before and wasn’t sure what to expect.

What she got, she says, was one of the best experiences of her life. The Destrehan native traveled as part of a medical mission trip via LSU’s Global Brigades program. The program sees volunteers with its medical school travel to help under-served countries. The student-led health initiative spends the year fundraising and collecting supplies for the seven to 10-day trip.