Sixteen UC Irvine medical students, including those involved in the innovative PRIME-LC, will be spending some of their summer vacation in Chiapas, the most southern, rural, economically disadvantaged state of Mexico. Their “Miniconference in the Highlands” this month will feature discussion on topics ranging from poverty and structural violence to the sociopolitical origins of health care outcomes. The students also will be involved with a health promoter project and pulmonology field research to measure the levels of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide before and after installation of wood-burning stoves where open fires used to be. Last year, 10 PRIME-LC students initiated the first Chiapas conference (pictured), chronicled by John Rose Jr. in a Web travelogue. The UCI crew raised $35,000 in grants and private funds to support this year’s Chiapas effort, which they hope is part of a continued investment in international study and research programs to improve the quality of life for all people, regardless of race, economics and politics.