HWS News
23 June 2026 Gift of Life Interns Embark on First International Medical Mission
Four Hobart and William Smith students will travel to the Dominican Republic this month as the inaugural participants in a new global health internship bringing future healthcare professionals into the heart of an international pediatric cardiac mission.
On June 20, Juliza Ariza '27, Kelly Malone '27, Beatrix Rioux '29 and Lily Winch '28 traveled to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with Gift of Life International CEO Robert Raylman '84. There, they are spending eight days embedded with local and international healthcare teams working to expand access to life-saving cardiac care for children with congenital heart defects.
Based at CEDIMAT Cardiovascular Center, students will shadow cardiologists, surgeons, intensive care physicians and interventional specialists as they evaluate children for treatment and perform surgical and catheter-based procedures.
“They will observe the evaluation and selection process of the 10 surgical and 15 interventional cases planned for the week, while having the opportunity to meet with children and their parents,” explains Gift of Life CEO and HWS alumnus Robert Raylman ’84.
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The experience represents the first international placement in the new HWS/Gift of Life International Global Health Internship Program announced earlier this year. The program pays for students’ airfare, lodging, meals, transportation, scrubs and any other related materials during their internships.
The four students traveling to the Dominican Republic are among 10 HWS students chosen for the 2026-27 internship cohort. Student placements are being evaluated for missions to Guyana, Jamaica, El Salvador and Kosovo later this year. Once on site, students meet with local government officials, hospital administrators, local stakeholders and healthcare teams.
Since it was founded in 1975, Gift of Life International has provided treatment to more than 65,000 children worldwide while helping local hospitals develop sustainable pediatric cardiac programs. The non-profit works with more than 80 local hospitals around the world, alongside healthcare professionals and governments to build long-term resources for specialized care.
Raylman is proud of the HWS students Gift of Life selected for these life-changing missions.
“They truly are 10 exceptional women: engaged, motivated, smart, intuitive and respectful of each other,” Raylman says. “Their questions and insights are impressive; they are able to compare what they are studying in class with the real-life scenarios I relate regarding our work.”
Many of the scholarship recipients are biology or public health majors with plans to enter the medical field. Malone is an example.
An aspiring physician with a special interest in women’s health, Malone says she is looking forward to observing how international healthcare teams collaborate — and how children experience the recovery process, which for congenital heart surgery can be surprisingly swift, Gift of Life officials say.
“The first day we arrive, we will meet the children that will be undergoing life-saving cardiac surgery. A few days later, we will watch them recover back to strong, healthy children,” she says.
Gift of Life officials are chronicling students' experiences and patients' progress on a blog they update daily.
Like Malone, many students are interested to see how medical teams coordinate under pressure. Rioux is a public health major with a passion for health equity and community-based care. She became a certified emergency medical technician last spring and in May started work at the Wynn Hospital in Utica. “What interests me most about the long-term approach (at Gift of Life) is how team members from all over the world, with different backgrounds, work together seamlessly to save children’s lives,” she says.
“I think it is so impressive how these programs, once developed, can save countless more lives than trips alone (can do) and empowers local professionals.” Rioux plans to become a doctor specializing in women and children’s care.
A biochemistry major, Ariza’s career goal is to become a psychiatrist. Last summer, she spent 20 hours a week shadowing physicians at hospitals in Madrid, Spain and Athens, Greece, through the Charles H. Salisbury Summer International Internship Stipend. (The scholarship enables recipients to explore diverse careers by funding their summer work.)
She plans to build on her experience this summer with Gift of Life to better understand how physicians make critical decisions in complex situations, Ariza says.
Through her work as a certified nursing assistant, medical assistant and EMT, Winch has seen firsthand how healthcare access shapes patient outcomes. A biology and public health double major, she is looking to understand the larger systems that make healthcare possible.
Winch says she wants to see how Gift of Life avoids cutting corners while minimizing waste and creating sustainable centers for pediatric care that sustain themselves beyond Gift of Life’s direct involvement.
“In the Dominican Republic, where in-country resources are limited, budgets are tight and time is short, every minute, dollar and supply item must be used in the most effective and efficient way,” Winch says. “I want to compare the use of resources in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic to see where efficiency can be increased and where unnecessary steps can be cut.”
The mission enables students to experience the contrast with healthcare in the U.S., where these surgeries are routinely performed as soon as the need for them is detected. In many other parts of the world, Raylman says, children born with congenital heart defects must spend their lives making do without a surgical intervention until they eventually succumb to the condition.
And this is what probably excites interns the most: participating in life-changing moments with patients and their families. As they move between patient rooms, operating suites and meetings with healthcare leaders, students gain a deeper understanding of how access to care can shape the course of a child's life.
As Winch puts it, "What strikes me most is how much a child's chance of survival can depend on where they are born."
Top: Gift of Life 2026-2027 Interns
Row 1: Beatrix Rioux ’29*, Lily Winch ’28, Amanda Lawrence ’27, Willow Johnson ’29, Amalia Olivieri ’28
Row 2: Juliza Ariza ’27, Soraya Desrosiers ’29, Zoe Neiderbach ’27, Kelly Malone ’27, Lauren Campbell ’28
*Italics indicate interns assigned to Santo Domingo
