Belize trip gives UB PharmD students global health perspective

Participating as part of a short‑term global health experience through the school’s Global Health Initiatives program, PharmD students and faculty worked collaboratively to address health challenges in Belize. Students on the trip received partial support from the SPPS global health budget, which reimbursed approximately 20% of their expenses.

From Jan. 10-18, Jacob Lymberopoulos, PharmD ’28, Mia Muniz, PharmD ’28, Shaneka Johnson, PharmD ’27, Isha Dhawan, PharmD/MBA ’26, and Kalpesh Desai, PharmD, associate dean of inclusive excellence at SPPS, joined students and faculty from the UB School of Nursing for the clinical immersion in Belize. The multidisciplinary team included pharmacy and nursing faculty, as well as nursing, nurse practitioner and pharmacy students.

The experience began in the Orange Walk district with classroom sessions on Belizean history, culture and the structure of the country’s health system. Students learned directly from Belizean health professionals—a nurse, physician and pharmacist—who shared insight into their training and clinical practice.

The next day, the team conducted a community health assessment in the village of San Luis, going door to door to identify health needs and barriers to care. They surveyed medical conditions, access to drinking water and environmental exposures to prepare the team for upcoming clinics.

Over the following two days, the team held clinics in the villages of San Luis and Tower Hill. Pharmacy and nursing students worked collaboratively to interview patients, obtain medical and social histories and perform physical assessments. They consulted with local physicians to discuss potential diagnoses and medical treatment options. The group also toured Northern Regional Hospital, where they observed pharmacy operations and inpatient wards, gaining insight into how health care is delivered within the Belizean health system.

“This experience reaffirmed many of my professional desires in pharmacy,” says Lymberopoulos. “Viewing health care from a global perspective can have significant impacts, even when practicing locally. Through experiences on this trip, I’ve seen the meaningful role pharmacy can have on patient care beyond dispensing.”

“This interprofessional collaboration in Belize between the UB schools of nursing and pharmacy allowed students to learn from each profession's strengths, communicate effectively with each other as a team, and provide clinical expertise from each other's training to provide better patient outcomes,” explains Desai. “Global experiences further enrich this learning by exposing students to diverse health systems, cultures, and differing resources, broadening their perspective and strengthening their adaptability, cultural humility and commitment to health equity.”

Throughout the trip, pharmacy students strengthened their clinical skills, deepened their understanding of global health practice and gained appreciation for interprofessional collaboration when caring for diverse patient populations.