July 07, 2026
“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.” – Louis Pasteur, French scientist and a founder of modern microbiology (1876)
Michelle Metz's job doesn't usually come with a fan club. In Brazil this spring, it did.
The program manager of Denver Health's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, or SANE, unit spent the end of April in Aracaju, Brazil, teaching forensic photography to nurses and doctors at an international forensic nursing and medicine conference. After her presentations, attendees lined up to take photos with the visiting nurse from Colorado.
"I got treated a little bit like a rock star," Metz said.
Behind the joke is serious work. Metz and her team of nurses at Denver Health have helped thousands of survivors of sexual assault in the most vulnerable moments of their lives over the past two decades. Forensic nursing isn’t standardized in Brazil, and medical providers there often face barriers, including who's allowed to examine patients.
Metz spent her sessions teaching trauma-informed forensic photography, walking through case studies on strangulation, domestic violence and sexual assault to show how the right photo, taken the right way, can support a patient and their case in court.
The impact of the trip became real after she was approached by a nurse who oversees a small team of forensic nurses who work alongside law enforcement in his region. He told her he wanted to take what he learned back home and put it into practice. The two talked through how his team could start small, assisting doctors during exams before eventually taking them over.
They’re still in touch.
Metz knows her work is a critical piece of Denver Health. The SANE team of nurses provides more than 700 forensic exams each year. Still, it’s nourishing to see a spark in someone a world away.
“They’re fighting super hard to be better,” Metz said. “It kind of reinvigorates you to make a difference,” she said.
Global reach
Metz is one of many Denver Health physicians, nurses and other medical experts whose work extends far beyond Colorado. Some travel around the world to teach. Some provide care in communities with limited access to medical resources. Some host international colleagues who come to Denver Health to learn.
Denver Health’s Orthopedic Center of Excellence, for example, has hosted more than 100 physicians from around the globe who traveled to Denver specifically to train under Denver Health orthopedic surgeons.
Denver Health spoke to a few of its experts who have traveled in recent years about their experiences:
Jennifer Baxter: Nepal and Ghana
Jennifer Baxter, a certified nurse midwife, has traveled to Nepal three times to train birth attendants through Helping Mothers Survive, a program aimed at reducing maternal deaths in low-resource settings. This month, Baxter is set to travel to Ghana with fellow Denver Health midwife Geri Middleton Walsh to do similar work through Project CURE.
“We train them, and then they become the champions in their community,” Baxter said. “That really just fills me with a lot of hope that some mothers will be saved.”
Lindsey Fish: Australia and New Zealand
Lindsey Fish, MD, chief of urgent care at Denver Health, traveled to Australia in June as the international keynote speaker for the inaugural Urgent Care Clinics Conference.
“I wanted to go to support the country of Australia in their growth and development of urgent care clinics,” said Fish, who is set to travel to New Zealand for a conference in September. “International relationships are critical to Denver Health because it allows us to better understand our patients and their needs. Having experiences outside of the U.S. broadens our awareness and skills which enables us to better care for our patients.”
Olivia Snyder: Taiwan comes to Denver
The exchange does not only happen when Denver Health employees board a plane. In June, the High-risk Infection Team, known as HITeam, hosted two nurses from National Taiwan University Hospital through a partnership with the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center. The visit included training, shadowing and conversations about high-consequence infectious disease preparedness.
“It was a wonderful reminder that we have just as much to learn from our international colleagues as they do from us, and it has completely re-energized our team's commitment to collaboration and innovation,” HITeam project coordinator Olivia Snyder said.
Bailee Olliff: Cambodia
Bailee Olliff, MD, trauma medical director and a trauma and acute care surgeon, travels annually to Cambodia for a surgical mission in Phnom Penh. Most recently, in June, she assisted with surgical cases and taught Cambodian surgical residents.
“Practicing in a resource-limited environment is both humbling and challenging,” Olliff said.
“Their commitment to their patients is remarkable and serves as a powerful reminder that excellence in healthcare is driven not only by resources, but also by the people who devote themselves to caring for others.”
Danielle McDermott: Ghana
Danielle McDermott, MD, a neurology epilepsy physician, traveled to Ghana in October with the Global Organization of Health Education. Her work included seizure first aid education in schools, education for nursing students and conversations with traditional healers and spiritual leaders about epilepsy and stigma.
“Advancing health care globally cannot be about creating dependence,” McDermott said. “It has to be about teaching, building capacity, and developing local knowledge so next generations can benefit.”
She said Denver Health is uniquely suited for that work.
“What Denver Health brings to the world is not simply medical expertise, but a global perspective of a model for caring for all patients and communities with humility, pragmatism and respect,” McDermott said.
Jeremy Long: Guatemala
Jeremy Long, MD, medical director of internal medicine for the Comprehensive Care Center, has made six medical mission trips to Guatemala with his wife, Amy, a pediatrician at Denver Health’s Sam Sandos Westside Family Health Center. They worked with Project Salud y Paz, providing rural primary and urgent care.
“Cultural humility and being steeped in team-based care here at Denver Health is excellent grounding for international work,” Long said. “I think we give exceptional care across cultures and tailor care to our patients in a magnificent way at Denver Health. Likewise, we receive such energy and love when we go abroad. I think it can have a replenishing effect on us.”
Sara Henderson: Ethiopia
Sara Henderson, nursing director for women and children’s services, traveled to Ethiopia in 2014 to complete nursing assessments on about 100 pediatric patients at orphanages.
“The people of Ethiopia are beautiful,” Henderson said. “They are kind and welcoming and would give you anything they have, though most of the time they have so very little. There were many children at the orphanages who had significant physical disabilities but had never been seen by a doctor or at a hospital. Many of the disenfranchised – the orphan, the widow, the disabled – have no advocacy and often no place to go in terms of the social structure that exists. Hospitals and access to medical care are only accessible to those who can pay for their care.”
The experience stayed with her so deeply that, in 2018, she adopted a 9-year-old boy from Ethiopia.
A mission without borders
Denver Health’s mission is to provide all in the community with access to the highest-quality and equitable healthcare, regardless of ability to pay. As Colorado’s primary safety-net health system since 1860, Denver Health has provided billions of dollars of uncompensated care and serves as a model for other essential health systems.
Denver Health’s mission includes educating the next generation of healthcare professionals who serve the community. These international trips show how care is always evolving and improving.
The expertise developed at Denver Health helps our staff to teach, train and care for people around the world. Across continents and specialties, the lessons learned in those countries help Denver Health better care for patients close to home.
