UCLA plastic and reconstructive surgeon Reza Jarrahy realized that he was missing something when his young Guatemalan patient developed a mysterious infection after undergoing surgery. That puzzled the surgeon, who travels Guatemala twice a year to do pro bono surgery on people from indigenous communities.
“I knew these people were destitute, uneducated and medically unsophisticated, but I didn’t appreciate the deeper social context in which they were living and how that influenced surgical outcomes,” said Dr. Jarrahy.
Perreault Magazine - 82 -
Surgeon, anthropologist lead effort to bridge Western health care, indigenous cultures
Reza and Bonnie with patients at the hospital in Guatemala
by Peggy McInerny, Arturo Diaz, and Cynthia Lee