In December 2014 and May 2015, Dr. Caleb Kovell participated in IVUmed’s Resident Scholar program, traveling to Vietnam and Mozambique. Dr. Kovell’s experience was made possible by the generous support of the Mid-Atlantic Section of the American Urological Association. He was accompanied by Joel Gelman, MD in Vietnam, and Ryan Terlecki, MD in Mozambique. 
Reflecting on his experience, Dr. Kovell reported, “From these trips, I will take with me lasting friendships, mentors, and connections from here at home and across the globe. Over the course of my IVUmed experiences, I had the chance to work with some incredible surgeons and innovators in the field of reconstructive urology. (Joel Gelman, Johan Naude, Igor Vaz, John Lazarus, Sanjay Kulkarni, Aldo Marchesini, Pippi Salle). These are names that I had always heard about and read about in the world of international reconstructive urology, but thanks to IVUmed, I have had the chance to meet them, learn from them, and count them as colleagues and friends. During my two trips, I interacted with numerous urologists from Vietnam and specialists from around Africa. We had the chance to share our teaching with them, and assuredly they taught us a great deal about their cultures, patients, and health care systems. Most importantly, we formed lasting bonds with the patients who we cared for and their families that I will never forget. Hopefully we have been able to change their lives for the better as well.”
He added, “Over the last year, I learned a great deal about urology and reconstructive medicine. Thanks to IVUmed, I also was able to experience first-hand what it takes to successfully translate these skills to international locations. These trips have confirmed for me that I will make international medicine a significant part of my urology career moving forward. I hope that a large part of that will involve continued collaboration with an organization as wonderful as IVUmed. I was truly humbled by the experiences. Thank you again for everything.”