International Medical Aid - IMA

International Medical Aid - IMA International Medical Aid provides students and institutions community-based global health education. What if the necessary medicine isn't available?

Founded by Johns Hopkins alumni, International Medical Aid works with pre-health students across multiple disciplines, including medicine, nursing, dentistry, mental health and physical therapy, to provide experiences that will further your preparation for medical school and graduate healthcare programs. IMA partners with leading academic institutions in the United States, Canada, and Europe to fa

cilitate study abroad trips and internship opportunities. Our healthcare internship programs provide pre-health students hands-on experience through intensive clinical shadowing, service learning, didactic experiences, and expert admissions support. Combined, these elements build the foundation that medical and related healthcare programs are looking for in applicants. International Medical Aid works with underserved communities in East Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. We bring healthcare where it otherwise might not go, improving lives and providing valuable shadowing experiences to pre-health students. We focus our efforts in areas where there is the greatest need. Our programs impact the lives of everyone involved--patients, providers and students. Early exposure to these settings is critical for students who might not otherwise consider providing medicine to rural communities. Plus, opportunities like this are once-in-a-lifetime and will provide content for your medical school essays and a competitive edge for some of the best medical programs in the country. You'll also form lifelong friendships and connections that can prove vital to your long-term success in the medical field. IMA also partners with local communities and professionals to develop grass-roots initiatives that are led by individuals in the community. Through local engagement, IMA helps improve the quality of the healthcare that is provided to specific regions. Our Global Health Lecture Series helps pre-med students understand the differences that run throughout the healthcare system and affect how treatments are delivered to patients. Our Clinical Simulation Sessions teach interns basic healthcare through simulated experiences. Interns practice suturing, drawing blood, managing airways, and injecting medications on mannequins. Normally, this kind of experience doesn't come until much later during a medical student's education. Finally, our Community Outreach Program educates and gives resources to members of the community, allowing individuals to take better control of their health. This includes field medical clinics and hygiene education sessions that cover topics like hand and oral hygiene. Providing medicine to remote areas and underserved communities has allowed IMA, our doctors, and our pre-health students to make an impact in the lives of individuals who need medical treatment or who need to improve their health through simple measures. You'll have first-hand experiences with conditions that most doctors don't get to treat in remote areas. You'll work in settings where instruments need to be sterilized before surgery. Having experience in the developing world will prepare you for a career in medicine like nothing else. Getting into medical school is a difficult and complex process. You're competing with other highly qualified candidates who have the same dreams you do. Displaying your passion for science through working with IMA will prove just how much you love medicine. While EMTs, nurse's aids and ER techs gain valuable experience that will help them in medical school, IMA interns get more. Remote medicine stretches you and allows you to grow in ways you wouldn't otherwise experience. What if a clinic runs out of a life-saving medicine before treatment has been completed? What if the right tests can't be run to confirm a suspected diagnosis? These are issues that medical doctors face on a daily basis. Your unique experiences will put you in a very small group of applicants that stand out to medical schools and other graduate healthcare programs. Our alumni have been accepted to programs at Harvard University, Stanford University, UCSF, and the Mayo Clinic. So, are you looking for a one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime experience shadowing doctors in remote areas of the world? Consider going on an internship with International Medical Aid.

05/18/2026

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For many students in remote and underserved communities, access to menstrual health education remains deeply limitedโ€”not...
05/17/2026

For many students in remote and underserved communities, access to menstrual health education remains deeply limitedโ€”not because the need is absent, but because the barriers are significant. In recognition of Menstrual Health Awareness Month, we recently conducted a Womenโ€™s Health Education Session at Mwakirunge Senior School, located near our flagship site in East Africa: Mombasa, Kenya. This outreach reflects our continued commitment to ensuring that girls in hard-to-reach communities are not left behind in conversations surrounding reproductive health, dignity, and access to accurate health information.

In schools located far from urban centers, challenges surrounding menstrual hygiene management are often intensified by limited access to accurate information, inconsistent water availability, financial barriers to sanitary products, and deeply rooted cultural taboos. For many girls, menstruation is approached quietly and cautiously, shaped by stigma and misinformation that discourage open discussion. These realities can affect confidence, school attendance, and emotional well-being.

What became evident throughout the session was how many students had spent years navigating menstruation with unanswered questions and limited guidance. Topics that are often treated as uncomfortable quickly became among the most important conversations in the room. As trust grew, students became more willing to speak honestly about their experiences, concerns, and the challenges they face in managing their periods within their daily environments.

At IMA, we recognize menstrual health education as an essential part of promoting dignity, confidence, and long-term well-being among young women. Through continued outreach in underserved schools, we remain committed to creating spaces where students can access accurate information, ask questions openly, and develop a healthier understanding of their bodies.

Preventive health education often begins with the simplest lessons, yet its impact can shape long-term health outcomes f...
05/11/2026

Preventive health education often begins with the simplest lessons, yet its impact can shape long-term health outcomes for entire communities. As Summer 2026 programs begin, these early moments of engagement set the tone for a season dedicated to community outreach, healthcare awareness, and prevention-focused learning across communities.

Our first Hygiene Education Session of the summer took place at Pentrose Community Primary School, located near our flagship site in East Africaโ€”Mombasa, Kenya. During the session, our interns engaged students through interactive discussions and demonstrations focused on essential hygiene practices, including proper handwashing, oral hygiene, personal cleanliness, and how everyday habits directly influence disease prevention and overall well-being.

The session reached approximately two hundred students, creating an energetic and meaningful start to our outreach efforts. Through active participation and open dialogue, students were encouraged to reflect on how small, consistent actions can protect not only their own health but also the well-being of their families and wider community. These foundational lessons are especially impactful in settings where access to health education may be limited, helping to bridge critical gaps in preventive knowledge.

As the summer continues, this first session sets a clear foundation for the many initiatives ahead. Each upcoming outreach program will build on this momentum, reinforcing the importance of prevention and empowering communities with the knowledge to make informed, healthier choices for the long term.

Summer 2026 has officially begun, marked by the arrival of the first members of our initial cohort at our flagship site ...
05/05/2026

Summer 2026 has officially begun, marked by the arrival of the first members of our initial cohort at our flagship site in East Africaโ€”Mombasa, Kenyaโ€”where their journey included a comprehensive hospital orientation at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital.

At Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, the largest referral hospital in Kenyaโ€™s coastal region, interns were introduced to the hospital environment, key departments, and the coordination of care across different units. This first step provides essential context for engaging with healthcare providers, observing care delivery in real time, and understanding patient flow within a busy public hospital setting.

As they settle in and are joined by members of the full cohort in the coming weeks, we will continue sharing highlights from their internship experiences, offering a closer look at their learning, growth, and overall journey within the program.

Are you interested in gaining global healthcare internship experience?

Applications for our Summer 2026 programs remain open on a rolling basis. Learn more and apply today at medicalaid.org!

05/04/2026

We are pleased to extend a warm welcome to all our upcoming Summer 2026 cohorts in East Africa, selected from one of our largest, most competitive, and truly inspiring applicant pools to dateโ€”Karibu! We are honored to welcome you to Kenya and to International Medical Aid.

As you embark on this transformative journey, please know that your experience has been thoughtfully designed and supported by our dedicated team to ensure everything runs smoothly throughout your time with us. Get ready to immerse yourself in unforgettable experiences, build lasting connections, and make a positive impact on the world. We cannot wait to work with you!

April is recognized as Stress Awareness Month, a global reminder of the importance of understanding and managing stress ...
04/26/2026

April is recognized as Stress Awareness Month, a global reminder of the importance of understanding and managing stress in everyday life. This yearโ€™s theme, Be The Change, aligns with our Mental Health Awareness Clinics, conducted primaryy at our flagship sites in East Africaโ€”Mombasa, Kenyaโ€”at high schools and in selected vulnerable communities.
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The program serves as an educational platform that introduces key mental health concepts while creating space for meaningful discussions around the academic, social, and personal pressures young people face. Rather than treating mental health as a distant issue, the sessions are held in familiar environments where participants can reflect openly and engage more comfortably.
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Through guided discussions, participants are encouraged to express themselves, share perspectives, and explore practical ways to recognize and respond to stress and emotional challenges. The focus goes beyond awareness by building confidence in managing everyday pressures. In many of these settings, conversations around mental well-being remain limited, making these engagements an important step toward reducing stigma and strengthening understanding among young people.
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As stress-related challenges continue to rise globally, especially among adolescents, these clinics support early awareness and prevention by encouraging healthier coping approaches, open communication, and stronger support systems within schools and communities.
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At IMA, we believe meaningful change begins when awareness evolves into conversation, and conversation becomes a sustained part of everyday community practice. To learn more about our Global Health Initiatives, visit medicalaid.org!

โ€œI could go on and on with stories of what I heard, saw, and experienced during my time at CGTRH and with IMA. Through t...
04/24/2026

โ€œI could go on and on with stories of what I heard, saw, and experienced during my time at CGTRH and with IMA. Through these moments, I began to understand the kind of provider I want to be.โฃ
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I saw the strain of overworked, understaffed, resource-limited systems. I saw how bias can influence care, and how repeated exposure to death can slowly erode the small gestures that matter most. But I also saw resilience, creativity, and compassion. I learned what it means to problem-solve when a patient can only afford one test or treatment, and what it looks like to truly meet a patient halfwayโ€”like performing a total hip replacement under epidural anesthesia because the patient could not afford general anesthesia.โฃ
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Above all, I leave this experience with a deeper understanding that medicine is not just practiced through knowledge, but through presence, humility, and humanity. I am, and always will be, profoundly grateful to IMA and CGTRH for allowing me to witness both the joy and the grief that shape this beautiful country and for trusting me with the stories that will continue to shape me as a future provider.โ€โฃ
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- ๐€๐ง๐ง๐š ๐—ช๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐—ช๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐€๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆโฃ
๐˜œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜›๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜”๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜‰๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿผ

Access to consistent healthcare remains a challenge in the Dalu community, Tana River County, Kenya, where long distance...
04/22/2026

Access to consistent healthcare remains a challenge in the Dalu community, Tana River County, Kenya, where long distances to health facilities and limited access to basic health resources often delay or prevent families from receiving timely care. In many cases, even essential hygiene items are not readily available, leaving everyday health needs unmet.

These gaps highlight the importance of community-based outreach in settings where routine medical services are not always easily accessible. Such initiatives help bring essential healthcare support closer to populations that would otherwise go without timely care.

At our flagship site in East Africaโ€”Mombasa, Kenyaโ€”we partnered with Kuluhiro and Vibe Spot to conduct a community outreach at Dalu Secondary School. This outreach was delivered collaboratively, with Kuluhiro supporting community mobilization and Vibe Spot contributing sanitary towels to support menstrual hygiene needs. We spearheaded a mobile medical clinic that provided general consultations, dental services, and essential medications.

Through partnerships like these, we continue to strengthen access to essential health services in underserved areas through coordinated Community Outreach Activities. Are you interested in making an impactful difference? Learn more about our Global Health Initiatives at medicalaid.org!

At International Medical Aid, our pre-clinical internship programs are designed to provide structured exposure to real h...
04/19/2026

At International Medical Aid, our pre-clinical internship programs are designed to provide structured exposure to real hospital environments through observation, guided learning, and clinical mentorship. Across our flagship sites in East Africaโ€”Mombasa, Kenyaโ€”and South Americaโ€”Cusco, Peruโ€”these experiences take place in leading partner hospitals in each region.

Throughout the program, interns rotate through a range of clinical departments, gaining exposure to diverse specialties and developing a clearer understanding of how multidisciplinary teams collaborate in patient care. With each rotation, they begin to see how individual departments connect within the broader hospital system to support patient outcomes. This progressive exposure helps interns move beyond observation toward meaningful clinical insight, shaping how they understand medicine, healthcare delivery, and their own future roles within it.

Clinical mentorship is at the core of the experience. Working closely with Physician Mentors, interns receive guidance, ask questions, and gain insight into clinical decision-making, patient interaction, and the realities of practicing medicine across diverse healthcare settings.

Grounded in ethical shadowing guidelines, our programs prioritize patient safety while supporting learning, guided reflection, and the development of confidence in clinical environments, equipping them with the perspective needed to grow from learners into skilled and confident future healthcare leaders.

Interested in studying abroad? Visit medicalaid.org to learn more about our award-winning programs.

โ€œMy experience as an intern at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya not only strengthened my love for h...
04/16/2026

โ€œMy experience as an intern at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya not only strengthened my love for healthcare, but also solidified that it is the field I am meant to spend my life in. Along the way, I learned some of the most valuable lessons, not just for my future career but for life in general, which I will carry with me forever. I witnessed life beginning and ending in just one day, the broken becoming fixed, and the impossible becoming possible, all because of the dedication and innovation of the doctors and interns I worked alongside.โฃ
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I came to understand that helping people can be done in many ways, not just by โ€œfixingโ€ physical problems or simply delivering medical knowledge, but by rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty, so to speak, working with patients to come up with creative solutions to both emotional and physical challenges.โฃ
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I also learned that expensive, high-tech equipment or every little gadget under the sun is not always necessary to manage complications. Having all the answers all the time is not required either; collaboration and asking for help are part of the process. There is no need to fear getting things wrong or not โ€œwinningโ€ every time, as long as mistakes are acknowledged and used for growth.โฃ
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Healthcare does not always require a blanket, a jacket, a vest, a tie, a handkerchief, or even a button. Sometimes all that is needed is an idea, and the reminder that something can always be made from nothing.โ€โฃ
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- ๐„๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐š ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ๐จ, ๐—ช๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐€๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆโฃ
๐˜‰๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿผ

"I had always felt like my understanding of psychology existed in two parallel worlds. My education and early training i...
04/14/2026

"I had always felt like my understanding of psychology existed in two parallel worlds. My education and early training in Canada emphasized individual autonomy and emotional boundaries, while my upbringing in India centered around collective decision-making and shared spaces, where family perspectives were not external pressures but a core part of life. I often found myself questioning where these theories truly applied and who they were truly built for.โฃโฃ
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This tension is what drew me to explore psychology more deeply. I wanted to understand how these frameworks could adapt to contexts that didn't reflect the individualistic settings in which they were developed. When I joined International Medical Aid in Kenya, I arrived with notes in hand, hoping to find clarityโ€”a way to bridge this gap in my understanding.โฃโฃ
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Instead, what stayed with me most was learning to sit with the absence of clear answers. I began to notice how often I was searching for solutions in situations that were deeply complex and, at times, unresolved. This experience taught me that not everyone is in a place where change is immediately possible, and that understanding someone's reality without trying to fix it is, in itself, a meaningful form of care.โฃโฃ

I left Kenya without the handbook I thought I needed, but with a deeper appreciation for how psychology and healthcare can remain culturally responsive without losing their core intent. I learned to hold on to what works, while staying open enough to let it evolve. And above all, I came to understand that genuine smiles and a whole lot of love can go a long way in shaping meaningful, happy lives."โฃโฃ
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- ๐’๐š๐ง๐š๐š๐›๐ข ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐›๐š๐ข๐ฃ๐š๐ฆ, ๐—ช๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐€๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆโฃโฃ
๐˜œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜‰๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜Š๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ข ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿป

Address

1629 K Street NW Suite 300
Washington D.C., DC
20006

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm
Sunday 8am - 5pm

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