Correction run Oct. 30:
Mario Grijalva received his Ph.D. from the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. Earlier trips to Ecuador were sponsored by the Tropical and Geographical Disease Institute.

Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine's winter trip will take an OU graduate student home during the holiday season.

Fourteen OU students, administrators and researchers will leave Nov. 28 for Quito, Ecuador. This trip, the OU-COM's fourth to Ecuador, will serve as a tropical disease biology workshop.

Renato Leon, a microbiology graduate student and native of Ecuador, helped organize the trip. Leon met Bill Romoser, director of international developmental studies, who encouraged him to come to OU, during an earlier OU-COM trip to Ecuador.

Leon will guide the group with Mario Grijalva, a OU-COM graduate and native of Ecuador.

During the two-week workshop, the group will visit of the Amazon Basin, the rainforest and Ecuadorian communities to witness tropical diseases. They will study malaria, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis.

"The overall focus is to make them better physicians to serve Ohio," Gary Snyder, OU-COM's associate director of communications, said. "We want our students to bring that understanding of health care back to Ohio, get a better appreciation for service we have in the U.S."

The trip might become part of an elective tropical disease course. Ann Fingar, assistant professor of family medicine, will accompany the group to evaluate the workshop.

During the trip, Romoser hopes to sign an agreement with the Ministry of Health in Ecuador that will help facilitate collaborative projects. OU-COM and the Ministry have been working together on projects for the last nine years.

Leon spoke to the group Tuesday night about possible complications, one being the recent increase in volcanic activity around Quito.

"A couple weeks ago, Quito was in a yellow emergency (two levels below evacuation), but things are more stable now," he said. "I don't think it's going to be a problem."

Another concern stems from the workshop's purpose - tropical disease. Group members are required to get shots and take anti-malarial drugs. "Quito is the only city where you don't have to worry about malaria," Leon said. "In the rest of the country, if you get bitten, you get malaria."

Leon will expose the group to the fun side of Ecuador. He plans to take them to a dance club one night during the trip.

"I plan to bring my rubber boots, my hiking boots and my dancing shoes," he said.

Romoser hopes the workshop will help him recruit more students from Ecuador. He said he was encouraged by one student's plans to come next fall.

Snyder said he hopes recruitment will be successful.