Medical missionary
Registered dietitian Leslie Mueller ’11 is sharing and expanding her knowledge of medicine on four continents.
by Nancy Bartosek
Updated: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Leslie Mueller ’11 has traveled to Asia, South America and Africa on medical mission trips, including a 2011 trip to Tanzania where she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
A heart for helping has taken Leslie Mueller ’11 to four continents.
This summer, while applying to physician assistant programs, the registered dietitian from Omaha, Neb., will return to Asia while performing a medical internship in Cambodia for five months. From August to December as a part of Projects Abroad, Mueller will observe medical work in Phnom Penh at the state hospital and will be an intern at a small private international clinic.
It's all a part of Mueller's desire to share and expand her knowledge of medicine, she said.
Last summer, the May 2011 graduate literally was on top of the world after climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro while in Tanzania on a month-long medical mission trip with International Service Learning (ISL), a group that sends teams of medical and educational volunteers to under-served populations in Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Africa.
Mueller writes: “For three weeks, we went from house to house in very poor villages and did physical exams and basic health education. We set up clinics in the villages as well, and worked with local doctors to diagnose and treat patients.
“On the fourth week, some of us climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, which was one of the most physically and emotionally draining things I've ever endured, but was so rewarding!”
The trip to Africa was Mueller’s third trip with ISL. Previously, she had travelled with groups to the Dominican Republic in March 2010 and to Nicaragua in March 2011. She's also volunteered in July 2009 with Visiting Orphans who were helping an orphanage in China.
Mueller, who studied nutritional sciences at TCU, is spending the spring completing a few more prerequisite classes and volunteering at the Nebraska AIDS Project.