Library Assistant Joan Drury, Adjunct Professor Gail Sachs of the School of Education, Dean Michael Uttendorfer (M.S. ’95) of the School of Education, Jen La Cava (B.S. ’10), and Director of Field Placements and Certification Janice Sawyer helped to teach villagers about malaria in Oworobong, Ghana, using handmade puppets shown above.

There and Back Again

At NYIT-Old Westbury, Lardner and Passafaro have just returned from a trip to Costa Rica. The pair met with physicians from Universidad Iberoamerican to review learning opportunities as part of a new program. It would allow NYIT students from NYCOM and university residents at the Bronx, N.Y., teaching hospital, St. Barnabas, to learn about the health care system in Costa Rica as they live with host families, shadow local health care professionals, and visit hospitals and clinics in San Jose.

“Students may not understand at first what they’re getting themselves into,” says Lardner. “But once they go and return to talk about their trip, all they want to do is go back. The students feed on our enthusiasm. And it makes them more well-rounded, which ties together with the osteopathic philosophy of treating the body as a unified whole.”

The weeklong visit to Costa Rica is another mental checkmark for Lardner as she gazes again at the world map in her office. She and Passafaro share more than a passion for global health; the couple married in September 2011. Passafaro admits he and his wife “try to have an adventurous life.”

“It’s good to be home,” says Lardner. “But then the wanderlust kicks in. I don’t like to stay in one place for too long.”

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