In 2010 and 2011, Remedy partnered with the CerviCusco clinic in Cusco, Peru, to help perform pap smears to screen women for cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women in Peru, but the disease is preventable with proper screening. According to CerviCusco, “Peruvian women have one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world. This is disproportionately true for women who live in the isolated mountain regions of the country…Many women lack the financial means and geographic access to preventive healthcare…CerviCusco was created to advance cervical cancer prevention with the goal of reducing the morbidity and mortality of cervical neoplasia in Peruvian women...CerviCusco provides high quality screening, diagnostic and therapeutic medical services, unique expertise and has available resources to ensure even impoverished women receive necessary care.”

Over the past six years, our REMEDY chapter has organized successful trips to the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Cuba. This year, we plan to build upon previous success and bring our donations, knowledge, and passion to either Cusco, Peru, or Kingston, Jamaica. This will be a mutually beneficial process: we will offer the clinics an infusion of funding and volunteers, while we will have the opportunity to integrate knowledge of the complexities of international healthcare into our medical education. Ultimately, we plan to become advocates for the improvement of healthcare in developing nations and to become leaders in the effort to reduce healthcare disparities around the world.

All members of this year's Remedy group come from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine class of 2015. We are first year medical students with a passion to serve, learn, and lead in the field of international medicine.