
Meet Our Missioners
As an organization rooted in solidarity, relationships developed on mission are key to our work. We are proud that many of our missioners return year after year. Mission teams may include surgeons, anesthesiologists, surgical technicians, nurses, clinicians, interpreters, chaplains, photographers, and helpers. Some of our milestone missioners are profiled below.
Nurse Jackie went on her first Solidarity Bridge mission trip in September 2015 to Univalle Hospital in Cochabamba. She is also a frequent visitor in the office, sorting supplies, packing suitcases, and just helping out however she can! She even co-hosted one of our 2016 fundraising events at Found Kitchen and Social House in Evanston.
Our Gynecology Program is championed by Dr. Carrie Giordano, Chair, OB-GYN Department at the Resurrection Medical Center, Chicago. She offers patients and the Bolivian medical community expertise in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery and other techniques. Dr. Giordano has served on five mission trips since 2009.
Dr. Gay Garrett, a general surgeon in Washington, D.C., has participated in 10 mission trips since 2010. The recipient of our 2018 Solidarity Award, she is featured in the short film, Heal and Be Healed. She has also served as the Medical Director of our Board of Directors since 2022.
“Mission trips are about empowerment. We’re training Bolivian medical teams to carry on this work after we leave,” explains Dr. Garrett. “When we train one person we’re healing many."
Fr. Bob is Pastor Emeritus of St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston and SB Board Member. In addition to serving on numerous mission trips since 2007, Fr. Bob tirelessly raises support and awareness for Solidarity Bridge through visits to parishes in the Chicagoland area. Learn more about Fr.Bob and his reflections on his latest mission to Cochabamba.








Roughly 5 million essential neurosurgical cases per year are unadressed and untreated in low- and middle-income countries.
Through partnerships and collaborative actions that are measurable and sustainable, the Neurosurgery and Neurology Institute works to build capacity and expertise in Bolivia and Paraguay in order to increase access to safe, affordable and timely health care.
We are committed to alleviating the suffering, death and disability from neurological disorders and injuries that disproportionately impact patients in the countries where we serve.

Where We Work
The NNI works in collaboration with professionals advancing neurological and neurosurgical care in Bolivia and Paraguay.
Read our latest updates
June brought two historic firsts to neurosurgery in Paraguay—both made possible through the collaboration of Solidarity Bridge and our dedicated partner doctors in the U.S. and Paraguay. For the first time in the country, surgeons successfully performed a cerebral double bypass and a flexible endoscopic intraventricular surgery.
The US visit of two partner Neurosurgeons from Paraguay in April marked a key milestone in a formal training initiative launched by UW–Madison and Solidarity Bridge in December 2022. The partnership aims to bridge gaps in neurosurgical training by offering a progressive, multi-stage program for neurosurgery residents of Bolivia and Paraguay. Over 20 UW-Madison neurosurgery faculty have presented lectures through the virtual residency program
“I was hopeless” is a phrase you frequently encounter when speaking with parents of children with drug-resistant epilepsy. It serves as a powerful reminder of the vital role that Solidarity Bridge plays in sustaining hope for those whose hope has run thin. Along with committed partners, Solidarity Bridge is restoring hope for Bolivian children suffering drug resistant epileptic seizure disorders by making epilepsy surgery accessible.
At 53, Margarita is a woman who has faced more challenges than most people do in a lifetime. When I first met her, she was overwhelmed by debilitating headaches and near blindness. About 18 months earlier, her symptoms had started with headaches and subtle vision problems. But at the time, she and her family thought it was all tied to the devastating loss of her husband of more than 30 years. The grief of losing him had consumed her, and no one could have imagined that something else might be wrong.
Bolivian representatives from the Santa Barbara Hospital spent a week in Honduras to observe a range of rehabilitation training and care methods for neuro trauma patients at Teleton Honduras. This South-South exchange facilitated the sharing of expertise and collaboration to solve healthcare challenges.
It was a tremendous honor for Solidarity Bridge’s Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute (NNI) to be invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bolivian Society of Neurosurgery (BSN) and participate in its XXII Congress, in La Paz, Bolivia during their visit at the end of August.
In a groundbreaking collaboration with Solidarity Bridge this fall, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Neurological Surgery will welcome the first Bolivian neurosurgeons as part of a one-month observership program.
Surgery Residents during previous on-site training course held in March of 2024, focusing on spinal surgery.
A Bolivian nursing student needed highly-specialized brain surgery unavailable in the public healthcare system in his country. Read about his international journey to care and healing.
“Successful surgical training is not dependent on the equipment, the finances, or even the planning as much as on the dedication of the people and their motivations for being here.”
From virtual lectures to hands-on practice, our two day Spinal Surgery Workshop gave more than 25 neurosurgical residents from Bolivia and Paraguay an opportunity to advance their skills.
José was the first of six patients with complex neurosurgical conditions operated this week at the Santa Bárbara Hospital in Sucre, Bolivia. These surgeries are part of a long-term effort drawing on the contributions of local and U.S. neurosurgeons, neuro-anesthesiologists, neuro-intensivists, and neuro-rehabilitation specialists toward a vision of establishing the Santa Bárbara Hospital as a premier neurotrauma center.

“When we provide devices hospitals could not possibly afford and teach surgeons to use them, we’ve created a self-sustaining situation in which people are cared for whether we are present or not,” says Dr. Richard Moser, Neurosurgeon at the University of Massachusetts. As Medical Director of our Neurosurgery Program, Dr. Moser has been an instrumental leader since the program’s inception. As of 2018, he has completed more than 20 mission trips.