![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/04\/Haiti-Clinic-e1554922614810-1024x768.jpg\")
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It\u2019s one thing to dream of one day serving a disadvantaged community.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s actually doing it.<\/p>\n
Javier Cintron recently had the opportunity to test drive his career goals with a weeklong trip to an impoverished community in Haiti.\u00a0 UCF has had a permanent presence in the rural mountain village of Mare-Brignol through a clinic operated since 2011 by the non-profit International Medical Outreach (IMO). In 2018, the UCF Department of Anthropology in tandem with IMO launched the new Global Health Internship.<\/p>\n
Cintron, an Anthropology and Biology double major, was the first intern in the new program to visit the village over Winter Break. His role was to both assist the medical team and conduct fieldwork into the key health issues in the community. He found that water insecurity \u2013 both access and cleanliness \u2013 is central to the local population’s health problems. The double duty was demanding, but Cintron said he relished the opportunity to learn and experience healthcare provision firsthand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot about myself and what goes into these kinds of studies. And I found I really enjoyed talking with new people,\u201d Cintron said.\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/04\/Javier-Cintron-225x300.jpg\")
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Cintron\u2019s passion for healthcare \u2014 and his concentration in medical anthropology \u2014 stems from a childhood watching his mother\u2019s practice as a primary care physician in Panama City. Her patients primarily came from impoverished backgrounds, and Cintron\u2019s mother\u2019s compassionate care made an impact on him.<\/p>\n
Cintron arrived at UCF with the intention of studying biomedical sciences, but a general anthropology class grabbed his attention. After his experiences in Haiti, he plans to go to medical school but he will merge the study of medicine with research in an M.D.\/Ph.D. program. His topic of study will be disparities in access to healthcare and the solutions that can correct them \u2014 exactly what he pursued in Haiti.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re blessed you should give back,\u201d Cintron said. \u201cYou\u2019re better off when you help people with the resources that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s one thing to dream of one day serving a disadvantaged community. And then there\u2019s actually doing it. Javier Cintron recently had the opportunity to test drive his career goals with a weeklong trip to an impoverished community in Haiti.\u00a0 UCF has had a permanent presence in the rural mountain village of Mare-Brignol through a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":24586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,34,13,28,1,30],"tags":[915,5721],"class_list":["post-24560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anthropology","category-biology-departments","category-news","category-top-news","category-uncategorized","category-undergraduate-student-news","tag-department-of-anthropology","tag-javier-cintron"],"yoast_head":"\n