To promote this mission, we have developed the Global Surgery Fellowship program, which gives young medical professionals long-term opportunities to expand and enhance their global health knowledge and expertise. The fellows are fully integrated into Operation Smile’s work and gain exposure to research, advocacy and on-ground programmatic global surgery initiatives in the low-and middle-income countries where we work.
This flexible two-year program continues to grow and evolve from original partnership with the University of Southern California and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Since its inception in 2011, 25 fellows from 13 countries have participated in the program.
Program Overview
Fellows are given the opportunity to conduct work that will directly impact the way we provide care, engage with our local teams, and interact with governments and ministries of health.
- Project Support: Fellows will support both pilot and ongoing initiatives as medical advisors, thought leaders, monitors and evaluators, and programmatic designers. They will champion the dissemination of organizational best-practices and programmatic innovation to the broader public health and medical communities through local, national and international presentations and scientific publications.
- Research: Fellows will conduct clinical and population-based research projects related to surgical care delivery, surgical disease burden, barriers to care, education, epidemiology, genetics, and operative outcomes, among other areas. Experience will include grant writing, study design, data collection, data analysis, manuscript development, and dissemination of the results to key stakeholders.
- Global Surgery Advocacy: Fellows will attend conferences, key global surgery events, and meetings with country leaders and ministries of health. Advocacy efforts will support the organizations strategies and impact within the global surgery arena. Through close work with key organizational leaders, fellows will also have opportunities to speak on behalf of the organization.
Fellow placement opportunities vary geographically and strategically based on individual interest and the needs of our organization.
Application Information
Interested candidates will gain experience working in low-and middle-income countries where we provide cleft care. Applicants must be participating or have recently completed residency programs for general or plastic surgery, anesthesiology, or similar medical specialties. In addition to medical training, experience in writing grant proposals, data collection, data analysis and manuscripts is valued.
For application information and all other questions, contact us.
You can stay up to date on the exciting work our fellows are doing by following them on Twitter.
Global Surgery Fellows
Title
Daniel Bradley
Fellow Cohort: August 2021 - August 2024
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: London, UK
Current projects include the Cleft Surgery Training Program, New Patient Health Record project and the Comprehensive Cleft Care Handbook.
Title
Atenas Bustamante
Fellow Cohort: July 2021-2023
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: Lima, Peru
Current projects include Cleft Surgery Training Program, the Comprehensive Cleft Care Handbook and Women in Medicine.
Title
Bart Celie
Fellow Cohort: July 2022-2024
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: Los Angeles
Current projects: New patient health record, cleft surgery outcomes, DALY philosophy and conscientious objection in global health
Title
Hebah Daradkeh
Fellow Cohort: September 2022-2024
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: Amman, Jordan
Current Projects: Women in Medicine, Cleft Surgery Training Program, Operation Smile Academy and burn-related projects.
Title
Shervin Etemad
Fellow Cohort: July 2023 - 2025
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: Losa Angeles, USA
Current Projects: Patient Health Record data analysis, burn and reconstructive surgery-related projects, and PHR implementation.
Title
Arsen Muhumuza
Fellow Cohort: July 2021 - December 2023
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: Kigali, Rwanda
Current projects include Global Essential Surgery project, Cleft Surgery Training Program and work with Operation Smile Rwanda.
Title
Daniel Otobo
Fellow Cohort: July 2023 - 2025
Specialty: Neurosurgery
From: Benue State, Nigeria
Current Projects: Patient Health Record data analysis, neurosurgery research and supporting projects in Africa.
Title
Mikyla Jade Rata
Fellow Cohort: January 2022 - 2024
From: Western Australia
Current Projects: Women in Medicine, Policy & Advocacy, UBS/GES project in Madagascar and new patient health record
Title
Barbara Salazar
Fellow Cohort: September 2022-2024
Specialty: Dental Surgery
From: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Current Projects: Oral Health, Operation Smile Academy and Women in Medicine
Title
Alice Umutoni
Fellow Cohort: August 2023 - 2025
Specialty: Plastic Surgery
From: Kigali, Rwanda
Current Projects: Patient Health Record implementation, Women in Medicine and Operation Smile Rwanda NSOAP
Global Surgery Junior Fellows
Title
Alyssa Bautista
Junior Fellow Cohort: July 2023 - 2025
From: Chicago, US
Current projects include Women in Medicine qualitative papers and Women in Medicine human-centered design.
Title
Jonathan Diaz
Junior Fellow Cohort: July 2023 - 2025
From: Los Angeles, US
Current projects include UBS/Global Essential Surgery related papers and barriers to care in Madagascar.
Title
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