Project History
In 1990, Dr. Linnea Smith left her Wisconsin medical practice to begin providing medical services to the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon. She started with almost nothing — a small thatched-roof room without electricity, running water, laboratory services, staff, or funding. In 1993, following a radio interview about her work, volunteers from Duluth, Minnesota, Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Iquitos, Peru, came together to build a riverside clinic complete with solar panels and a well. Over time, a hammock house for patients’ families and expanded staff quarters were added. When the Amazon River gradually eroded the land beneath the clinic, it was rebuilt in 2009 on a nearby stream.
In 1996, the Amazon Medical Project was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
Current Board of Directors
- President: Shelby Kemper, PharmD, MPH
- Medical Director: Linnea Smith, MD
- Treasurer: Joseph Tisinger
- Secretary: Kathryn Perry, MPH
- Officers: Jerry Goth, Rick Koeck, JD, Kim Stokes
- Executive Director: Melissa Traynham
Health Care Services
Prior to Dr. Smith’s arrival, people living along the Amazon River had no local access to health care. In recent years, the clinic has been treating roughly 2,000 patients annually — all arriving on foot or by boat. Services include family planning, well-child care, dental services, prenatal care, and vaccinations, as well as treatment of poisonous snakebite, malaria, intestinal parasites, trauma, and a wide range of infectious diseases.
Clinic Staff
Dr. Linnea Smith serves as the clinic’s Medical Director. A 1984 graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical School, she is Board-certified in Internal Medicine and practiced in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin from 1987 to 1990 before leaving to serve the communities of the Peruvian Amazon.
Her contributions to medicine have been widely recognized. In 1990, she received the Rosenthal Award from the American College of Physicians (ACP) for the delivery of innovative medical services. In 1997, she was named a Fellow of the ACP in recognition of her exceptional dedication and service. In 2005, the Wisconsin State Medical Society named her Citizen Physician of the Year, and in 2008 she was honored as a Distinguished Alumna by the University of Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association.
The clinic’s core staff reflects the deep community roots Dr. Smith has cultivated over more than three decades. Two long-serving local staff members — trained initially by Dr. Smith and later credentialed as Nursing Technicians through the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana — form the backbone of daily operations. They are joined by two additional Peruvian nurses, a laboratory technician, a Peruvian physician, and three local staff who manage maintenance and grounds. The clinic has also benefited from international physician and dentist volunteers who have joined temporarily over the years.
