Affiliation with Yale University: 

Yale University Physician Associate Program 

In other exciting news, we are pleased to announce our official affiliation with the Yale University Physician Associate Program.  This summer, three second-year Yale PA students, Phil Stevens, Jessica Fredeen, and Jacob Hauptman, will be joining our one-month Student Healthcare Internship Program. Other medical students, Morgen Yao-Cohen and Sarah Lee from Albert Einstein Medical School, Peter Wicks from King's College School of Medicine in London, and pre-med students Wilbur Wang, Rochelle Rock, and  Priti Dave, will also be joining us.  The Yale PA Program has elected Amazon Promise as one of its formal international rotation sites.  This rotation is designed to provide PA students with an opportunity to experience and provide health care within a different social, cultural and economic environment. The rotation fosters an alternative way of thinking about practicing medicine and gives students an appreciation for the challenges of delivering medical care in the developing world, as well as an understanding of the role a PA may play in the global health arena. We look forward to having many more Yale PA students join our teams in the future!

Abigail Mithoefer 

Supporting Amazon Promise…

  We have recently launched a new Fundraising Committee, led by Seattle resident and fundraiser, Kristina Server, to increase private support for Amazon Promise. With the success of our first fundraiser last fall in Boston, we will continue to build upon the incredible support from Amazon Promise friends and alumni to achieve a healthier global community.

Thank you to the many organizations and individuals who support our mission. You are truly a partner in our success and future!

  Private support enables Amazon Promise to expand it's services, provide a wider range of care to people in need, and fund current operations. Additionally, donations can help Amazon Promise offer scholarships to health sciences students who want to participate in an expedition, but would not otherwise have the opportunity.

  Consider the impact scholarship support had for Eva Clark, a student from the University of Alabama School of Medicine, who was able to participate in a Promise Expedition thanks to the Woffington Scholarship, which is named after a board member's grandmother. She writes:

“The Woffington Scholarship allowed me to intern with Amazon Promise for a month this past summer — an experience that was so tremendous it is impossible to describe in words. I learned and practiced countless clinical skills, gained valuable knowledge about the challenges of humans and healthcare in the third world, and met all kinds of awesome people. Most importantly, however, I left Iquitos with the knowledge that I would return; Amazon Promise’s mission of constancy, self-sufficiency, and education in this region greatly inspired me to continue to pursue a career in international medicine.” (See Eva's complete article on page 3.)

To learn more about supporting students or other Amazon Promise initiatives, you can contact Kristina Server, fundraising chair, at kristina@amazonpromise.org or call (206) 228-5632. Or, visit the website at www.amazonpromise.org.

The Inca Peanut Makes a Comeback!

 In 2005 an ancient plant native to Peru used by pre-Incan cultures, but abandoned during the Spanish Conquest, started making headlines here.  The extracted oil of the ‘rediscovered’ Inca Peanut (Plukenetia volubilis L) has high levels of both Omega 3 and 6.  Flour made from the peanut was found to have 59.13% protein.  Imagine the possibilities of just this one super plant in improving the health of millions of poor people!  Just one plant in a forest of millions of possibilities.  The Inca Peanut will grow just about anywhere, and is now being cultivated in many regions of the Amazon for local use and export. Our Peruvian office is working with a local ngo that grows the Inca Peanut to create simple high protein foods like crackers and bread that can be prepared easily and at a low cost.

Patty Webster

<  Previous Page          Home          Next Page  >