The Emory Global Perioperative Alliance (EGPA) is a student-led, faculty-supervised organization within Emory University School of Medicine whose mission is to provide essential surgical services, engage in collaborative educational efforts, and assist in local healthcare capacity building in under-resourced communities around the world. Over our more than twenty years of existence, our team has consisted of faculty from General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Anesthesiology, Ophthalmology, and Urology. Furthermore, participation spans across the Emory Healthcare system and attracts the top talent from the University.
In May 2025, our team will return to Guatemala. However, we will join forces with a new partner, Friends of San Lucas, a community-based non-profit organization that has been serving the people of San Lucas Tolimán since 1963. The hospital affiliated with Friends of San Lucas provides medical care for over 50,000 local Guatemalans who rely on the hospital’s no-fee services. However, there is no surgeon on site, and it relies heavily on the human resources of American partners to maintain the community’s health.
Our team will have two main goals:
- perform much-needed surgical care to the residents of San Lucas Tolimán and the surrounding area
- build local healthcare capacity through research, training, and patient care alongside our Guatemalan counterparts
We will run two full operating rooms for general and gynecologic surgery and one procedure room for minor procedures. We will have pre-operative and post-operative clinics as well as a recovery ward for all our patients receiving surgery. Any funds that exceed the goal for the 2025 surgical trip to Guatemala will be allocated for the following year's surgical trip. We aim to foster a sustainable partnership with the countries we practice in, and part of this sustainability stems from reliable future trips.
