Join Our Medical Outreach Teams

Our medical mission volunteers are known as Physicians for Peace International Medical Educators (IMEs), who are a select group of subject matter experts who represent a range of medical specialties. On each initiative, our IMEs combine their deep clinical knowledge with a passion for education. Among our ranks, you’ll find some of the most respected and innovative practitioners in the United States today.

IMEs are a 100 percent volunteer corps. Many of our most dedicated members are available to speak to your group about specific health care issues, or global health in general. Because of the strong bonds that form between our IMEs and local professionals, the same team members often return to the same site year after year, limiting our current need for new recruits to a select group based on specific medical backgrounds. 

To find out more about current areas of need, please read our FAQs to answer your questions or contact us directly info@physiciansforpeace.org. 

Ginna Parra, occupational therapist 

When occupational therapists Michael Serghiou and Jon Niszczak met Ginna Parra, they were impressed by her hands-on techniques and creative use of PVC piping to make splinting devices for her patients in Costa Rica. “Burn therapists tend to have the same attitude: we’re tasked with getting something done, and we get it done,” Niszczak said. Ginna just needed support to take her ideas to the next level. Since PVC is available in much of the developing world, Parra’s splints are a low-cost, effective answer to patients’ needs. She joined Physicians for Peace at a burn conference in Mexico, where she presented her technique to burn care pros from South America, the Caribbean, Central America and even Asia. By attending the conference, Parra was empowered to teach others. In doing so, she helped provide better care to patients she’ll never even meet.