Andrea grew up in Panajachel, Sololá, in a family defined by its values of hard work, solidarity and commitment to others’ well-being. Her mother, an educator, pushed her academically from an early age. By 16, Andrea had already begun university studies. But the path to a career was not a straight line.

She tried a technical degree in tourism first and quickly realized it was not her calling. She considered civil engineering, drawn to the idea of designing bridges, until discouraging comments rooted in stereotypes made her pause and reconsider.

During that pause, Andrea joined the Panajachel Volunteer Fire Department. For approximately three years, she responded to emergencies alongside low-income patients, families managing chronic illness and people who had nowhere else to turn for care. That work put the gaps in Guatemala’s health system directly in front of her, not as statistics but as faces.

Encouraged by friends studying medicine and supported by her parents, Andrea enrolled at Universidad Mesoamericana in Quetzaltenango around age 18. She trained as a general physician before a friend’s suggestion led her to anesthesiology, a specialty she had never planned to pursue.

Becoming an Anesthesiologist

Andrea competed against approximately 40 candidates for two residency positions at the Regional Hospital in Cuilapa, Santa Rosa. She was selected as the top candidate. The achievement launched one of the hardest chapters of her life.

Her residency began during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that compounded long shifts and clinical pressure with the emotional weight of a health crisis. During her first year, movement restrictions and health precautions limited her to only two visits home. Her parents supported her from a distance throughout. Andrea completed her final year of training in Quiché before returning to Panajachel to be closer to family after roughly ten years away.

The Moment Operation Smile Entered Her Life

Andrea first learned about Operation Smile in 2023 at the National Anesthesiology Congress, where a former supervisor introduced her to Operation Smile’s Guatemala volunteer coordinator. She attended an introductory workshop and received an invitation to join a surgical program in Escuintla that December.

She arrived at a difficult point in her own life, finishing her residency while processing personal loss. What she found on that program restored something in her: a collaborative medical team united around a clear purpose. At the close of the program, a colleague spoke about the impact of the team’s work. That moment reframed how Andrea saw her profession, not only as a technical skill but as a way to serve.

One patient from that time remains with her. During an evaluation, Andrea discovered she shared a birthday with a woman who had lived her entire life with an untreated cleft lip, facing ridicule that forced her out of school in fourth grade. After surgery, the woman looked in a mirror and cried. Born on the same day, the two women had lived entirely different lives, one shaped by opportunity, the other by barriers that surgery could finally remove.

The Reality Facing Patients in Guatemala

For many families, access to surgical care in Guatemala remains out of reach. Eighty percent of Operation Smile’s patients in the country travel more than two hours to reach care. Guatemala has no plastic surgery training program of its own, which means every surgeon qualified to treat cleft conditions has had to build that skill through outside support and mentorship.

Working across Sololá and Quiché, in both public and private settings, Andrea sees the full weight of those barriers every day. Distance, cost and a shortage of trained specialists are not abstract problems, they are the families in need of care. That experience has shaped how she works. Beyond the operating room, Andrea actively promotes awareness of Operation Smile’s services among colleagues and families in the communities where she works. She guides health professionals on how to identify and refer patients with cleft conditions, and she speaks directly with parents who had no idea that treatment was available for their children.

Building trust takes time, and Andrea knows it cannot be rushed. Some communities have had difficult experiences with other organizations. Others hold beliefs that make seeking medical care harder. Earning genuine trust means showing up consistently, communicating with care and meeting families where they are.

One family’s experience illustrates the impact of that commitment. Andrea accompanied the parents of a newborn who had been born with a cleft lip that had not yet been identified or treated. She spent time with them in those early days, explaining the condition, what it meant for their child and what options were available. She later learned the family had attended their first appointment with Operation Smile. For Andrea, that outcome carried real personal satisfaction. It was evidence that education, patient communication and consistent support can dismantle the barriers that keep people from the care they need.

We’re Closing the Distance Between Patients and Care

Five billion people worldwide lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care, according to the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. Meeting global demand requires 143 million more surgeries each year and 2.2 million more surgeons, anesthetists and obstetricians.

Operation 100 is our response to that reality. We’re equipping local cleft operative teams with advanced skills, essential equipment and improved facility infrastructure so care no longer depends on how far a family can travel. Andrea is one of the local leaders on the front lines of that work.

As she puts it, “I believe that the training we are receiving helps us to decentralize care from the more populated areas, allowing for broader and safer access to all patients.”

Training is a force multiplier. A trained anesthesiologist does not just support one surgery; she can support multiple surgeries for years to come, and she can train the next anesthesiologist after her.

Andrea Churunel’s path from volunteer firefighter to anesthesiologist to Operation Smile volunteer shows what local leadership looks like in practice. When she sits with a family that has traveled hours to reach care, she sees something deeply familiar: parents making sacrifices for their child’s future, the same way her own parents made sacrifices for hers. That recognition is not incidental. It is the foundation of her commitment.

She treats patients in Sololá and Quiché, mentors colleagues on how to identify children who need care, and brings the values of hard work, solidarity and service that her family instilled in her to every part of that work. Through that commitment, she is helping more children and families find the care they need.