Mission

To provide opportunities for individuals and organizations to share healthcare information and experiences, establish networks of cooperation and understanding, and foster a legacy of global service and stewardship.

Faculty and Greenlife Partners in South Africa: International Health Issues
Pre AIDS Conference & Pharmacy on Safari

Divisions

• HealthQuest Travel & HealthQuest Education
  Healthcare Credit, Incentive & Enrichment Programs

• HealthQuest Volunteers
  Short-term volunteer service opportunities within credit and enrichment programs

The HealthQuest International Advisory Board assures innovative “healing edge” program development for the healthcare and consumer community. (see side bar)

World-Class Partners for a World-Class Experience
Through the affiliation of outstanding education, volunteer and travel alliances, we are able to continually expand the scope of our global destinations and educational vision to better serve the healthcare community.

Palace Gates / Morocco

HealthQuest Travel The HealthQuest Travel division offers an extraordinary array of destinations, habitats and cultures that can serve as backdrops for exceptional custom designed healthcare travel programs. These locales offer unique opportunities to explore areas of unrivaled natural beauty and discover the healing traditions and innovations of many diverse and fascinating cultures. With our exceptional travel, education, and healthcare partners, we develop innovative enrichment programs in the global “classroom without walls”. These journeys provide unparalleled opportunities to fulfill your most passionate travel desires, combined with unique cultural, natural history and educational adventures.

HealthQuest Partners & Alliances
HealthQuest Program Prototypes

Innovations in Education

“Every now and then go away from your work. To remain constantly at work will diminish your judgment. Go some distance away, because work will then be in perspective. A lack of harmony will be more readily seen, and the gain of it more readily available.”

Leonardo Da Vinci 

HealthQuest Travel & Education: Rationale
Healthcare information and the world of medicine and healthcare practices are changing more rapidly than most professionals can keep up with easily. Research has demonstrated that professionals who are able to remove themselves from their everyday setting and take time to reflect on their practice are more likely to be the most effective practitioners. The HealthQuest educational mission is to design programs that provide physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other allied healthcare professionals with opportunities to take brief periods of time away from their practice to reflect on their needs for updating in diagnostic and therapeutic areas, as well as in the delivery of quality care. Programs are also designed to offer health professionals opportunities to compare the practice of medicine in the United States over time in discussions of the history and future of medicine as well as comparing it with that of developing countries where medical resources are scarce. Comparing and contrasting traditional and modern approaches to healing in these strategic cultural settings, improves the healthcare practitioner’s cultural competence in treating a diverse cross section of ethnic profiles and therefore improving patient outcomes.

• Most group sponsored programs are open to ALL healthcare professionals and interested individuals, reflecting the current trend in healthcare education to establish integrative alliances for better healthcare outcomes.

• The HealthQuest Volunteer Service programs address the desire to match core values and ethics to the educational enrichment experience. These programs offer short-term volunteer opportunities for the healthcare professional, within the context of a two-week accredited travel program. Typically, following the hands-on experience, an exceptional cultural and natural history travel expedition is provided.

• Accredited travel programs follow international educational program development guidelines that offer opportunities for tax deductibility and broaden participation with innovative and exciting “classroom without walls” programs.

• The HealthQuest International Healthcare Advisory Board assures continued development of timely program topics addressing innovations in healthcare

All healthcare professionals & interested individuals are welcome!

*Program Prototypes Developed Include:

• International Health Issues
• Women’s Issues
• Lifestyle & Longevity Issues
• Perspectives in Medicine & Healing
• Cultural Competence & Healthcare Outcomes
• Tropical & Travel Medicine
• Pharmacy from the Rainforest
• Dive & Travel Medicine
• Evolution of Man & Medicine
• Hot Zone Topics/ Emerging Issues & Infectious Diseases
• Spirituality & Healing
• Nutrition & Lifestyle Issues
• Executive Leadership & Management
• Personal & Life Leadership

HealthQuest Partner BIOS

Following an 18-year sales and marketing career in the healthcare field, Charlotte (“Chuck”) pursued her passion for educational travel and inaugurated the first “Pharmacy from the Rainforest” Amazon expedition in 1994. Healthcare professionals, researchers and interested individuals, embraced this accredited travel adventure. The International Healthcare Travel Series was then established.

Mark Blumenthal, "Chuck" & Dr. Jim Duke Pharmacy on Safari-South Africa

Charlotte’s background includes both healthcare and travel. She served in the capacity of Sales Manager & Trainer for Johnson & Johnson, William H. Rorer, and Sola-Syntex. pharmaceutical companies. Prior to this, she coordinated international European study programs for high school and university students through Student Services International in New Orleans, La. Since the first Amazon pharmacy program, she has traveled with groups to East Africa, South Africa, Australia, Belize, Costa Rica, Morocco and Peru as the Director of the International Healthcare Travel Series. Development has expanded to include expeditions for physicians, nurses, PA’s, veterinarians and allied health organizations.

To further expand the scope of the destinations and program formats offered by the healthcare series, Charlotte recently co-partnered with MBT to form HealthQuest Travel. This alliance allows innovative program development on the national and international level for groups and individuals, as well as corporate education, incentive and enrichment programs.

Charlotte graduated magna cum laude from Louisiana State University, earning a BA in Speech and Psychology. Raised a few miles shy of “Cajun Country” in Baton Rouge, La., she is well acclimated to tropical climes. She has been known to comment that the Amazon Rainforest is cooler than Louisiana in the summer.

Annika Hayes
President & Chief Operations Officer, HealthQuest
Travel - Education - Service

Annika has been active in the travel industry both in Europe as well as in the USA since 1972. Her positions in the European tourism field ranged from supervising operations for a large charter operator to international sales/marketing manager for a foreign national tourist office. Her career in the USA spans 23 years, and has been focused on Wholesale travel for Special interest groups, including Cont Educational travel programs for health professionals.

Richard, Connor, Annika

Annika was the Western USA manager for Melia International Travel (3rd largest tour company in the world) and owned Friendship International Tours (Wholesale spiritual/corporate group travel operating company) until 1994, when it was sold.

Annika became interested in a healthy approach for body, mind and soul for her personal lifestyle and started to promote travel programs that aligned with her philosophy. She formed a joint venture in 1997 with the founders of Health World Online to develop the Healthy Travel concept as part of their web site, Healthy.net as well as NPICenter.com.

Mindbodytravel.com, her latest endeavor is the most comprehensive travel site for high-level transformational travel experiences.

Richard Blackwell, Ph.D. M.D.
Director of Research & Diagnostics - Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Department of OBGYN
UAB School of Medicine

Mark Blumenthal
Founder & Executive Director
American Botanical Council

Linda L. Casebeer, Ph.D.
Associate Director/Division of Continuing Medical Education
UAB School of Medicine

Christopher Cullander, Ph.D.
Associate Dean & US Coordinator, US-EC Pharmobility Project
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA San Francisco/School of Pharmacy

Mary Hardy, M.D.
Medical Director/Integrative Medicine CEDARS-SINAI Medical Center

Gustavo Heudebert, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine & Public Health
UAB School of Medicine

Elizabeth Keyes, R.Ph.
Director Strategic Alliances and Industry Relations AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION

Gary J. Martin Ph.D. FLS
Director of The Global Diversity Foundation
President of the Society for Economic Botany
University of Kent, UK & Marrakech, Morocco

D. William Schlott, M.D.
Medical Director-Global Access Programs
JOHNS-HOPKINS Medical Center

Kathleen Squires, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
USC Keck School of Medicine
Researcher Women's Health & Aids/Medical Director
LAC & USC Medical Center