When Dr. Jennifer Smilowitz boarded a plane to Costa Rica earlier this year, she was stepping into an experience that blended language immersion, community health, academic collaboration, and global professional growth. Over two weeks, she balanced morning volunteer work in a community clinic with intensive afternoon Spanish classes. For Dr. Smilowitz, a medical physicist in radiation oncology, the trip represented a long‑held desire to advance her Spanish proficiency while meaningfully engaging with healthcare in Latin America. Her goal wasn’t tourism; it was immersion. “My Spanish had been at the same level for years,” she explained. “I wanted to push it further, and I wanted to make genuine connections in a place where I could use it.”
Learning Through Service: Volunteering in Guararí
Through the organization Common Ground International, Dr. Smilowitz joined a cohort of physicians, nurses, medical students, and other healthcare professionals for a structured immersion and volunteer program. She lived with a host family in Santo Domingo, north of San José, and volunteered in the morning to support the residents of Guararí, a long‑standing immigrant community where the nonprofit CEDCAS (Center for Health, Education and Health services) offers year‑round social support, educational programs, and health services.
Her group assisted in a diabetes‑focused triage clinic. While nurses and practitioners handled blood draws and patient counseling, Dr. Smilowitz worked at the intake station—measuring height, weight, and oxygen saturation (perfect measuring tasks for a physicist!); collecting brief medical histories; and practicing conversational Spanish with every patient who walked through the door.
“It was a small role, but important,” she said. “And it gave me the chance to use Spanish in real time, with real people, in a healthcare setting.”
She emphasizes that the experience broadened her understanding of how community health systems operate in resource‑limited environments—and why global collaboration matters. “When you volunteer in a place like Guararí and then visit a major hospital just 20 minutes away, you see the full spectrum of healthcare delivery in Costa Rica. It deepened my appreciation for how medical physicists can support global health in thoughtful, sustainable ways.”
Reconnecting Across Borders: Academic Engagement at the University of Costa Rica
As soon as she booked the trip to Costa Rica, Dr. Smilowitz reached out to a familiar name: Dr. Mariella Porras, a former UW–Madison Medical Physics graduate student who is now a professor in Costa Rica. That outreach led to an invitation to give a guest lecture at the University of Costa Rica’s medical physics program – an effort that was supported by Dr. Carri Glide‑Hurst and Dr. Zachary Morris, who ensured she had the time and encouragement to pursue this opportunity. There, Dr. Smilowitz delivered a talk—partly in Spanish—on integrating diagnostic and therapeutic physics to improve patient care. She shared ongoing research from the department, including work led by Drs. Glide‑Hurst, Michael Lawless and Abby Besemer, strengthening academic ties and sparking lively conversations with students and faculty. “The students were incredible—engaged, curious, and so welcoming,” she said. “It was one of the highlights of the entire trip.”
Her campus visit also included a tour of the cyclotron facility and an introduction to its director, Dr. Eric Morales, whose research aligns closely with work by UW physicist Dr. Michael Lawless. That meeting has since developed into a potential collaborative relationship—one that could grow into meaningful cross‑institutional research.
Building a Path Toward Global Health Leadership
Dr. Smilowitz’s experience in Costa Rica complements her growing involvement in international medical physics initiatives. She currently serves as a section lead for an online AAPM–ACOFIMED course supporting practicing medical physicists in Colombia, part of a broader global health effort within the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).
Her hope is that this trip marks the beginning of deeper work in Latin America. “This brought together three things I care about—Spanish, volunteering, and medical physics,” she said. “With the support of Dr. Glide‑Hurst and Dr. Morris, I’m excited to keep building these connections and contribute to global health in a sustained way.”
A Trip That Sparked Momentum
What began as a language‑immersion dream trip became a multifaceted professional experience—strengthening Dr. Smilowitz’s Spanish, expanding her global network, deepening her understanding of healthcare systems, and opening pathways for future collaboration.
For the department, her journey reflects the broader mission of fostering globally minded, community‑engaged scientists. And for Dr. Smilowitz, it marks the start of something larger: “I wanted to try something new—and it worked. I met incredible people, built lasting connections, and came home inspired.”