For the past five years we have been working with Avant Mutual Group to invest in the next generation of medical professionals.
The main way we do this is through the Avant/Interplast Student Placement Program, which gives one medical student each year the opportunity to observe our work firsthand as they travel with an Interplast volunteer surgical team to a program country in the Asia Pacific region.
Applications for the 2017 placement are open now. All medical students who are Avant members are eligible to apply (Avant student membership is free).
Previous winner Morgan Haines, a fifth-year student at the University of New South Wales, visited Fiji with an Interplast team in March this year.
“I’ll never forget the awe and excitement I feel when the Fijian baby’s lip comes together so neatly in the first cleft lip repair I have witnessed,” she said. “I’m amazed that the trajectory of this child’s life has changed so dramatically – problems eating, speaking and socialising have been virtually eliminated in a two-hour procedure. And almost as heartwarming is watching the parents meet their child post operation … it’s so special.”
