The Surgicorps mission is to provide free medical and surgical care to people in need in developing countries. Surgicorps does an incredible job accomplishing this mission year after year, patient after patient, in multiple countries. However, Surgicorps accomplishes far more than their mission statement by generating a profound impact on future healthcare providers, including myself. The organization’s commitment and dedication to educate future healthcare professionals has been invaluable, as you will see in my story below.
My name is Gregory Williamson, and I am currently a pediatric anesthesiology fellow physician at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. I became involved with Surgicorps as a first-year medical student in 2016 when I participated on a mission trip to Guatemala. Back then I knew I was interested in pursuing a career in a pediatric specialty but had minimal experience in the operating room and surgical theater. During that trip, the goal of both surgeons and anesthesiologists alike was not only to care for patients we treated, but also in furthering my education as a medical student. That year, I learned how to scrub in, suture, and secure a patient’s airway for surgery. I practiced diagnostic physical exam skills and learned how to care for patients in the perioperative period. I observed in real time the complex physiology I had spent my first year of medical school reading in textbooks. Two years later, I committed to pursuing a career in pediatric anesthesiology. Looking back on the trajectory of my medical education, it was this mission trip to Guatemala that planted the initial seed in my journey toward pediatric anesthesia.
Seven years later, I had the immense privilege to return to Guatemala with Surgicorps as a senior anesthesiology resident physician. While I had learned how to provide anesthesia safely and effectively throughout residency, with Surgicorps I was able to take that knowledge a step further. The mission trip taught me how to provide the same high quality anesthetic care with less resources, different equipment, and different medications than I was used to. At times, our team was very creative in developing solutions to problems I was not routinely exposed to in the United States healthcare system. Flexibility, adaptability, and innovation were skills I was able to sharpen this trip and continue to be invaluable and important in the pediatric anesthesia care I provide daily.
In 2024, I received another opportunity to travel with Surgicorps to Zambia, this time as a pediatric anesthesiology fellow physician. Although I was in my final year of medical training, I continued to expand my knowledge base and hone my clinical skills on this trip. For example, an attending introduced me to a new technique of pediatric pain management that I had not used before. Once again, we had to problem solve with minimal or different resources to achieve desired outcomes for patients. I was given autonomy (with support always available) to develop these solutions, and looking back, this has been an essential experience in preparing me for life as an attending physician after my training.
My time with Surgicorps has fostered my medical training in multiple ways, at multiple stages. It was both humbling and gratifying to return on trips as a resident and fellow, marveling at the progress I had made since medical school. Each mission has provided an abundance of clinical knowledge that I would not have received elsewhere, forever shaping my practice of pediatric anesthesiology.
As you can see, Surgicorps’ mission goes beyond their provision of free surgical & medical care to patients in developing countries. They are strongly committed to enhancing education of healthcare professionals in a way that improves patient care daily, in any clinical environment. I am very thankful to the Surgicorps team including all the surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other volunteer healthcare providers for the knowledge they have bestowed on me during my training. Most importantly, I am grateful for every patient experience I have had along the way. Their gratitude, kindness, and resilience are what makes medicine so joyful. I am already looking forward to learning new skills, and passing on my own knowledge to medical trainees, as an attending pediatric anesthesiologist on a future Surgicorps mission.
