Thailand trip teaches new lessons on health care

04/08/2025 It’s not often that your pre-med studies take you halfway around the globe, or let you stand face-to-tusk with elephants.Yet seven SUNY Cortland students got to make memories of a lifetime while getting in-depth medical experience during the university’s new Healthcare in Thailand program.The three-week, three-credit winter session course was led by professors Christa Chatfield and Theresa Curtis of the Biological Sciences Department. The group stayed in Chiang Mai, a city of 1.2 million people.“The food was amazing,” Curtis said. “The people were so incredibly friendly.”Students got a sense of the breadth of medical care in the region at seven public and private medical facilities, completing clinical hours in fields including dental care, chiropractic care, medical services, physical therapy and traditional Thai medicine.“In the morning you're watching ultrasounds with the OBGYN, and in the afternoon you're in a PT (physical therapy) clinic and then you're in the OR (opera...