Michigan

Team Michigan was launched in 2013 by Dr. Mehul Mehta, a hand, plastic, and reconstructive surgeon currently practicing at Oakland Regional Hospital in Southfield MI.

In 2013, Dr. Mehta, accompanied by colleague Dr. Matthew Rontal, who specializes in ear, nose and throat problems and reconstructive surgery at Beaumont Hospital, and Aruna Parekh, a retired pediatrician from Beaumont, and 24 additional volunteers from Michigan State University and Hope College, traveled to the town of Kakamega in Kenya for a medical mission.

In five days, they performed 45 surgeries, some during blackouts using only flashlights, including cleft lip repairs, burn treatments, hernia repairs, hand surgeries and the removal of tumors.

They also brought with them 61 crates of supplies and left behind roughly $25,000 worth of supplies at hospitals and off-site clinics they visited.

The mission was sponsored by funds raised from local businesses and charities, including Map International, Americares and World Medical Relief, and private donors.