Iraq 2014

As many of our readers and supporters know, our founder Dr. John Thomas has been going to Iraq yearly for the past decade. What began as a small trip to show a handful of doctors how to perform basic laproscopic surgery has turned into an annual symposium or doctors from around the US dedicated to teaching Kurdish doctors how to care for their own people.

This year, in addition to the medical symposium and surgical training, Dr. Thomas will be working alongside tech-giant Milton Chen to help develop a remote medical technology which will allow American doctors and medical professionals to assist in diagnosis, treatment and possibly even surgery on patients in Kurdistan by utilizing a number of high speed internet utilities including some brand new, cutting edge technologies like Google Glass.

Dr. Chen has a long list of accolades currently including Senior Fellow, Executive Director Emeritus at Edutopia - The George Lucas Educational Foundation; Chairman, Board of Directors at Panasonic Foundation; National Advisory Board at National Park Service; & Advisory Board at Fred Rogers Center. He has degrees from Harvard and Stanford University and we are thrilled to be a part of this program with him.

While in Kurdistan, Dr. Thomas, Dr. Chen, and a group of doctors and computer programmers will look into setting up a pilot program for this new technology in a refugee camp on the Iraqi/Syrian border where 1.5 million refugees currently live. This pilot program will be fantastic opportunity to try out this remote medical technology while providing an immensely valuable service to the refugees there.

We are honored to once again be a part of Dr. Thomas' work in Iraq and we ask that you continue to pray for his safety and effectiveness while he's gone.