Visiting International Students in San Antonio (VISSA)
VISSA homepage | Program Information | Past Participants
VISSA 2010 Participants
Pictured, left to right: Dr. Chiscano, Rodolfo Adrian Elizondo Saenz, Jessica Alexandra Ardila Gatas,
Gonzalo Alberto Romero Gonzalez, Oriana Haran Orta, L. Alejandro Jaramillo, MD (Program Director), Jahanzaib Idrees
October — December 2010:
Rodolfo Adrian Elizondo Saenz, Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico
Jessica Alexandra Ardila Gatas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
Gonzalo Alberto Romero Gonzalez, Universidad Central de Venezuela, School of Medicine Jose Maria Vargas, Caracas, Venezuela
Oriana Haran Orta, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
Jahanzaib Idrees, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan
Pictured, left to right: Dr. Chiscano,
Abdul Qader Alarhayem, Carlos Hernandez Diaz, L. Alejandro Jaramillo, MD (Program Director),
Pompilio Sampaio Britto, Ariadne Sanchez Ramon, and Natali Dos Reis Santos de Silva
July — September 2010: (pictured above)
Abdul Qader Alarhayem from Arabian Gulf University, Kingdom of Bahrain
Carlos Hernandez Diaz from Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, Mexico
Pompilio Sampaio Britto from Universidad Federal de Bahia, Brazil
Ariadne Sanchez Ramon from Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, Mexico
Natali Dos Reis Santos da Silva from Universidad Federal de Bahia, Brazil
April — June 2010:
Luana Clem de Oliveira Paulino (pictured left) from Espirito Santo, Brazil. She is attending
Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil.
Diego Jose Lopes de Lima (pictured right) from Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil. He is attending Universidade Estadual de Ciencias da Saude de Alagoas-Uncisal (Medical School of the State University of Health Sciences of Alagoas).
January — June 2010:
Esther Gonzalez Padilla and Jaime Viera Artiles, both from
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, located in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
the capital city of Gran Canaria island. Both students will be with us for six months.
Pictured — Jaime Artiles, Esther Padilla
January — March 2010:
Larissa Carvalho Monteiro and Regina Almeida Reis Vasconcelos de Araujo Lima
both from Universidad Estadual de Ciencias da Saude de Alagoas, in Alagoas, Brazil.
Pictured — Larissa Carvalho, Regina Vasconcelos
Antonia Gkotsi, Athens, Greece
(UTHSCSA email) —
Ms. Gkotsi is a 5th year
student in the Medical School of the University of Athens. She will be here for
three months, with rotations planned in General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, and Trauma SICU.
VISSA 2009 Participants
Daniel Escobar, Colombia — Mr. Escobar is attending medical school at the Universidad del Valle, Escuela
de Medicina, Sede San Fernando, in Cali, Colombia.
Elias Javier-Martinez, Dominican Republic — Mr. Javier-Martinez is a senior medical students at the
Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. He will here doing surgical rotations for three to six months.
German Almonte, Dominican Republic — Mr. Almonte is a senior medical students at the
Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. He will be here doing surgical rotations for three to six months.
(pictured, left to right) Daniel Escobar, Elias Javier-Martinez, and German Almonte
- Marco Gomera-Dipres (email) is from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Jorge Carrillo Cordova is from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
- Rolando Montoya Nieto is from Monterrey Tech, Monterrey, Mexico
- Jorge Garcia-Renteria is from Monterrey Tech, Monterrey, Mexico
- Ahmad Haris (email) is from the Sindh Medical College in
Karachi, Pakistan.
Congratulation to this year's medical students from Brazil, Mexico and India, who will be completing their rotations in our Visiting International Students in Surgery Program in June:
In photo from left to right:
- Eduardo Carvalho (email) - Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil (Jan-March 2009)
- Prateek Srinet (email) - Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, India (Jan-June 2009)
- Arthur Cabus (email) - Universidade Estadual de Ciencias da Saude de Alagoas, Brazil (Jan-March 2009)
- Otavia Peixoto (email) - Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Brazil (Jan-May 2009)
- Arnon Alves (email) - Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Brazil (Jan-March 2009)
- Omar Hernandez (email) - Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, México (Jan-March 2009)
VISSA 2008 Participants
Kathrin Kleinbrahm (email)
Wüerzburg Medical School, Wüerzburg, Germany
Clinical and research interests: Trauma surgery, endocrinologyThe Department of Surgery would like to welcome Kathrin Kleinbrahm, the latest participant in the Visiting International Student Program. Her proven academic excellence, high test scores and exemplary mentor recommendations have qualified her for this program.
Kathrin Kleinbrahm is a medical student from Wüerzburg, Germany where besides working on her medical school curriculum, she will be completing a doctoral thesis in endocrinology in 2009. She is very interested in different fields of trauma surgery and looking forward to the opportunity to work with faculty, residents and students to better understand the US medical system. Kathrin will be rotating within Surgery from mid August through November 2008.
VISSA 2007-2008 Participants
Ileana Mondragón Moreno
(email)
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Clinical and research interests: Emergency Medicine and Plastic SurgeryThe Department of Surgery is pleased to welcome Ileana Mondragón Moreno to our 2007-2008 program. Ileana has completed her fourth year of Career of Medicine at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). During her six-month program participation, Ileana will rotate through several surgical specialties as a sub-intern, as well as participating in Dr. Maureen Sheehan's Surgery Boot Camp for MS4s in February 2008. Ileana has always wanted to be trained to provide medical care; she has served in the Red Cross in both Italy and Mexico, as first responder and paramedic, respectively.
VISSA 2007 Participants
Omar Matuk Villazón
(email)
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)
Faculty of Medicine, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
Research and clinical interests: metabolic diseases, genetics, nutrition. Clinical and educational experience includes respiratory diseases, pediatrics, neurology and neurosurgery, cardiology, forensic pathology, and trauma.. . . . .
Paulo Henrique Oliveira de Souza
(email)
Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória-ES, Brazil
Research and clinical interests: surgical critical care, surgical pathology. Clinical and educational experience includes histology, general pathology, emergency center, electrocardiography, laparoscopic surgery, and gastroenterology.
Our first VISSA participants - 2007
Our inaugural participants were highly motivated, top students with an interest in surgical careers. They were selected based on excellent academic records and distinguished letters of recommendation. Additional support was received from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). They worked here as medical students with the same privileges and duties January through July 2007. Besides rotations in Trauma, Gen Surgery and ICU, they participated in Surgery's Intern Boot Camp. The remainder of their stay here included surgical rotations they chose that best suited their skills and interests.
Victoria Imaz Olguin
(email)
Victoria's VISSA participation was during her fourth of six years at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico - Facultad de Medicina. As the government of Mexico has supported her study of medicine, Victoria would very much like to give something back to the people of Mexico by offering her skills and services to the public health sector once she is fully qualified.Victoria's future long-term plans include becoming a surgeon of Oncology. Oncology not only attracts her from a professional point due to its complexity and severity but she also has a personal connection with cancer as the disease has touched her family on numerous occasions.
José Miguel Urencio
(email)
Miguel was a VISSA participant during his 5th year at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico - Facultad de Medicina who is especially interested in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Trauma Surgery. At the time, he was enrolled in the Academic Excellence Program at the University. While he hopes some day to complete his residency in surgery in the United States, after finishing medical studies, Miguel is committed to working again in Mexico to repay his home country for all that the health system has provided him in his education. He also would like to combine these activities with an academic position in the U.N.A.M.In Mexico, Miguel took clinical rotations in several hospitals. In his free time in Mexico, he worked with an ambulance service as an Emergency Medical Technician and as a part time assistant in a multidisciplinary outpatient and ambulatory care clinic in Mexico. He wishes to complement these experiences with a rotation in other American hospitals in order to acquire experience for a future career in medicine and especially in surgery.
