The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Center for Global Health is pleased to announce the 2025-26 recipients of its Faculty Mentor Travel Grants.
Following a fall application and review cycle, the center is pleased to award MUSC faculty members, Zesarae Bodie OTD, MPH, OTR/L, Puja Sukhwani Elias, M.D., and Robert L Grubb, M.D., with the funding to lead and mentor trainees on their individual global health project work abroad.
Annually, the Center for Global Health offers University faculty members the opportunity to receive up to $2,000 towards leading students and trainees to low- and middle-income countries for education, research, or service-learning programs.
This year’s faculty mentor travel grant awardees will pursue the following project work:
Zesarae Bodie OTD, MPH, OTR/L
Assistant Professor, College of Health Professions, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
Project description: “In May 2026, I will lead a one-week immersive service-learning trip to Belize City, Belize, through Therapy Volunteers International (TVI). This experience will include up to16 first-year students from both the hybrid and residential Occupational Therapy Doctoral (OTD) programs, the first time these two cohorts will travel together internationally. The experience is embedded within a clinical education course (Fieldwork Level 1A), marking students’ first opportunity in the program to apply classroom knowledge in a real-world, global health context.”
Puja Sukhwani Elias, M.D., MPH
Professor, College of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Project description: “Access to gastrointestinal services in underserved communities is sparse at best. To address this, the Central America Outreach & Endoscopy (CARE) was established in 2019 to provide otherwise inaccessible gastroenterological (GI) endoscopic care to the remote mountainous highlands of Atitlan, Guatemala. With the goal of providing hope, compassion and state-of-the-art GI care, a group of 10 GI team members travel on week-long medical brigades to provide care to 60-100 patients over a one-week period. Since 2022, our division has taken an active role in participating as part of a team of providers travelling to Guatemala along with providers from University of Virginia and North Carolina University to provide ongoing and continuous care to this remote village in Guatemala.
The partnership was a true success from the very start. And since that time, the GI division at MUSC has become part of the tri-partnership. Between the three universities – UNC, UVA and MUSC, each group sends a brigade every 3-4 months allows us to not only provide acute services but also have longevity and provide continuity of care to those in need of chronic GI services. Our team will include two physicians, one GI fellow and one resident along with nursing staff, in the hopes of generating sustained interest in global health that trainees can then incorporate into their practice. The grant will help ensure we are able to provide exceptional supervision and oversight to trainees with the goal of exemplifying that subspecialty care should and can be provided to all communities.”
Grace Turner, MSOT, OTR/L, OTD
Assistant Professor, College of Health Professions
Project description: "The proposed program is an international, for credit course within the OTD program in collaboration with Therapy Volunteers International (TVI). Students complete a Level I Fieldwork (FW) experience in Belize (BZE), working and learning with US-trained therapists of various disciplines residing in BZE. This will be a pediatric fieldwork focused on service-based and experiential-based learning incorporating both observing and assisting with the provision of therapy services within an underserved population. This proposal meets the requirements of the curriculum and accreditation body for our OTD program. Rather than completing the required rotation in the US, often at a traditional, profit-based therapy site, the students will complete this rotation in an international setting, thus providing additional exposure to and training in skills related to cultural humility, flexibility, therapeutic interactions, and pro-bono therapeutic services.
During the trip, students will advance global competency and humility skills by exploring the local culture through excursions to various locations within the country and engaging with locals, both through the therapy services provided and through incidental interactions with locals. Students will stay at the Tropical Education Center (TEC), a lodging center that is also a zoo, where they may interact with local staff and experience local flora/fauna. Students will be required to use cultural humility and therapeutic interaction skills when engaging with clients and client family members. Debriefs and reflections will incorporate cultural humility concepts and address questions, concerns, and successes in these areas while in country."
Recent College of Health Professions stories
