Right after the devastating earthquake shook Haiti in January, the university's medical school sent physicians to offer assistance. They worked in tents set up as makeshift hospitals. This January, Thaller's team plans to take another trip to Haiti, where the team will concentrate on performing cleft lip and palate surgeries.

Project Medishare, a nonprofit organization founded by two doctors with the university's medical school in 1994, helps spread the word about the arrival of the surgical mission, a trip the physicians attempt to make on a quarterly basis, says Thaller.


Approximately 60 to 100 Haitians flock to Port-Au-Prince in hopes of getting surgeries when the mission is in town. After a triage process, about 20 to 40 people are chosen to undergo the procedure.

"Sometimes what we'll do if the patient is too young or doesn't look healthy enough is schedule them for the next trip or to come down for an evaluation for the next trip," says Thaller.

During one of the missions, a Haitian man in his thirties with a wide cleft lip traveled down to the capital from the mountains to see the surgeons. For most of his life, he avoided seeing his reflection. Taking the man's long journey into consideration, the doctors operated on him that night.

"The next day he got a mirror and he looked at himself for the first time and cried," says Thaller.

When in Haiti, the surgeons work long hours, with the missions usually lasting four days. The procedures are carried out in Haitian hospitals and spending any more time would take away from other procedures that need to take place in the few available operating rooms.

As for supplies, the medical mission team brings "everything," says Thaller. The surgeons are currently working with Project Medishare to enhance the infrastructure of a hospital in Port-Au-Prince in hopes of reducing the need to stuff their suitcases with medical supplies.

Much of the funding for the missions comes from fundraising by the university's medical school students and grants from entities such as the Plastic Surgery Education Foundation, the research and philanthropic arm of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Sometimes, the physicians pay for their own flights or lodging.

Close supervision of residents and the inclusion of students into the trips are vital features of the university's medical missions.

"Students have to be educated in giving back. When I'm too old to go, you want to make sure that somebody's gotten the bug," says Thaller. "I think every one of the medical students we brought has taken something back with them."

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