Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. Gina Zuniga

By Emily Da Cruz
09:00 PM Mon August 29, 2022

Meet our featured volunteer for the September 2022 volunteer spotlight, Dr. Gina Zuniga. Gina is a doctor, mother, wife, avid runner, and devoted LIG Global Foundation volunteer.

Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. Gina Zuniga

Each member of the LIG Global community exhibits an undeniable passion for caring for others; Dr. Gina Zuniga is a perfect example of one of these individuals. For this reason, she is LIG Global’s September volunteer spotlight, exemplifying our organization’s core values of service and integrity.

As a doctor, mother, wife, and avid runner, Dr. Zuniga carries many roles in her life. After graduating from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ, she joined Contemporary Women’s Care in West Orange, NJ, a private practice where she works as an OB/GYN. While she certainly has a lot on her plate with her practice, Dr. Zuniga loves spending time with her husband and two children. Furthermore, her passion for running has led her to plenty of finish lines, as she has completed several marathons. She remarked that her favorite race was a 100 mile race in the Florida keys in which she ran with several other members of LIG Global.

Dr. Zuniga was first introduced to the field of medical volunteerism on a trip to Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010. This transformative experience, depicting the global health inequities facing poorer regions of the world lacking resources and healthcare providers to adequately address the needs of its population, left a distinctly powerful impact on Dr. Zuniga. To further delve into medical volunteerism, she read Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, a novel about Dr. Paul Farmer and his lifelong dedication to treating tuberculosis in Haiti and Peru, among other places. Inspired by the stories she read and experiences she had, Dr. Zuniga was more than eager to get involved in LIG Global upon learning about its founding by Dr. Sadural, Dr. Timmapurri, and Dr. Thunga.

In their first trip, Dr. Zuniga joined LIG Global on a trip to Dajabón, Dominican Republic, where she provided gynecological care and surgeries that were direly needed by women in the community. Having thoroughly enjoyed her experience, Dr. Zuniga returned for a medical volunteer trip to Cajamarca, Peru, where she focused her efforts on working with local doctors to provide women’s care, as well as share her surgical expertise with the local teams, so that they could carry on with the treatment even after the trip was over.

“As I reflect on my experiences with LIG, I feel honored and privileged to be part of this effort to help underserved women in some of the poorest communities of the world,” remarks Dr. Zuniga.

We know that her profound impact on the communities of Dajabon, Cajamarca, and LIG Global have helped transform lives for the better and we thank her for her passion to serving others.