Overseas Outreach

Applications for the 2025 Overseas Outreach Trips to the Dominican Republic are now closed. Watch this page for information on additional humanitarian trips in 2025!

Through the Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Foundation Overseas Outreach Projects, AOFAS members have the opportunity to use their surgical expertise to help children and adults in underserved areas. Surgeons volunteer time and pay for their own travel, and the Foundation covers in-country expenses for food, lodging, travel, and logistics support.

Overseas Outreach trips are open to AOFAS Active, Candidate, Associate, and International Members. AOFAS members in other member categories and non-members are not eligible to apply.

The Foundation has sponsored outreach trips to Kenya, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam with plans to expand to new sites in the future. Contact foundation@aofas.org with questions.

Gifts to the Humanitarian Service Fund

We thank the individual donors who have contributed to the Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Foundation to support Overseas Outreach Projects since 2019. To add your name to the growing list of supporters, please click the link below.

Give to the Humanitarian Service Fund

Kenya

The Overseas Outreach Project to Kenya takes place in Kijabe, Kenya, at the AIC CURE Kenya Hospital. The CURE hospital is primarily pediatric orthopaedics with some elective adult surgery.

AOFAS volunteers work alongside Kenyan attending and resident orthopaedic surgeons in both the operating room and clinic, providing much-needed education and patient care. Volunteers may be asked to do formal presentations along with teaching in clinical situations.

The inaugural trip to Kenya was in October 2019, with subsequent trips taking place in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Read about the 2023 Kenya Project.

Watch this page for updates on the 2025 Overseas Outreach Projects to Kenya! Applications will open in the spring for trips taking place in summer and fall 2025.

Dominican Republic

In partnership with Great Lakes Orthopedic Relief International (GLORI), the Foundation sends AOFAS volunteers to the Dominican Republic.

AOFAS and GLORI volunteers perform surgery in the Dominican Republic

AOFAS and GLORI volunteers work at El Buen Samaritano Hospital, a non-profit charitable hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic, that provides care for local residents and Haitian immigrants. The patients have limited resources and no other options for treatment.

The first Foundation-sponsored trip took place in October 2023, with subsequent trips taking place in September/October 2024 and November 2024. Two trips are planned for 2025.

Vietnam

Over nearly 20 years, AOFAS volunteers performed surgery on more than 1,500 patients and evaluated more than 3,500 patients in clinics, all at no charge to the patients. More than 60 AOFAS members from around the world participated in the project. Read about the 2019 Vietnam Project.

Volunteer surgeons spent 1-2 weeks in Vietnam and Hanoi working side-by-side with Vietnamese orthopaedic surgeons — teaching, seeing patients in the clinics, and performing surgery. Volunteers also presented at the annual orthopaedic educational conference in Hanoi and at provincial hospitals.

Future Sites

In response to the great interest from AOFAS members for service opportunities, the Humanitarian Services Committee is currently exploring additional sites for humanitarian outreach. Watch this page for updates.

"This type of mission really tests you and makes you realize how lucky we are in our first-world situations... It is a privilege to be able to help people who would otherwise get limited or no care for their problems."
— Geoffrey M. Tymms, MBBS, Melbourne, Australia

"The trip exceeded my expectations in terms of children we were able to help during the short mission. We were challenged as surgeons, but grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to this organization."
— Chelsea Sullivan Matthews, MD, Little Rock, Arkansas

Interested in volunteering? Ask these AOFAS members about their experiences!

Jorge Acevedo, MD (Jacksonville, FL)

Mario Kuhn Adames, MD (Florianopolis, Brazil)

Robert S. Adelaar, MD (Richmond, VA)

Angel Arnaud Franco, MD (Monterrey, Mexico)

L. Samuel Barouk, MD (Bordeaux, France)

Judith F. Baumhauer, MD, MPH (Rochester, NY)

D. Scott Biggerstaff, MD (Winston-Salem, NC)

R. Dale Blasier, MD (Little Rock, AR)

Nathan Bruck, MD (Givatayim, Israel)

Justin L. Cashman III, MD (Annapolis, MD)

Bonnie Y. Chien, MD (New York, NY)

Loretta B. Chou, MD (Redwood City, CA)

Bopha Chrea, MD (Iowa City, IA)

R. Richard Coughlin, MD (San Francisco, CA)

Joseph Daniel, DO (Sewell, NJ)

Raman K. Dega, MBBS (Wexham, England)

James DeOrio, MD (Morrisville, NC)

Greta E. Dereymaeker, MD (Leuven, Belgium)

John A. DiPreta, MD (Albany, NY)

Paul S. Docktor, MD (Denver, CO)

Sandra A. Eisele, MD, MBA (Cincinnati, OH)

Amanda J. Fantry, MD (Bloomfield, CT)

Jessica A. Faught, MD (Portland, ME)

Lorenzo Gamez, MD (East Setauket, NY)

Gil Genuth, MD (Tel Aviv, Israel)

William H. Gondring, MD (St. Joseph, MO)

F. Scott Gray, MD (Danbury, CT)

Naren G. Gurbani, MD (Downey, CA)

Aaron J. Guyer, MD (Tallahassee, FL)

Thomas Hearty, MD, DPT (Bethesda, MD)

Paul J. Hecht, MD (Lebanon, NH)

Minoo H. Hollis, MD (Navarre, FL)

A. Holly Johnson, MD (Boston, MA)

Paul J. Juliano, MD (Hershey, PA)

Justin M. Kane, MD (Dallas, TX)

Warren C.W. Latham, MD (Scarborough, Canada)

L. Daniel Latt, MD, PhD (Tucson, AZ)

Thomas H. Lee, MD (Pickerington, OH)

Lowell D. Lutter, MD (St. Paul, MN)

Victor W. Macko, MD (Stockton, CA)

Chelsea Sullivan Mathews, MD (Little Rock, AR)

Angus M. McBryde, MD (Columbia, SC)

Thomas A. McDonald, MD (Springfield, MA)

Francis X. McGuigan, MD (Washington, DC)

Kathleen A. McHale, MD (Alexandria, VA)

Robert Mihalich, MD (Brighton, MI)

João de Carvalho Neto, MD (São Paulo, Brazil)

Mier Nyska, MD (Sde-Nitzan, Israel)

Phinit Phisitkul, MD (Sioux City, IA)

E. Greer Richardson, MD (Memphis, TN)

Pascal F. Rippstein, MD (Zurich, Switzerland)

Michael M. Romash, MD (Chesapeake, VA)

Nimrod Ron, MD (Caesarea, Israel)

Peter B. Salamon, MD (Stockton, CA)

Pierce E. Scranton, MD (Kirkland, WA)

Steven C. Sheskier, MD (New York, NY)

Naomi N. Shields, MD (San Antonio, TX)

Mark P. Slovenkai, MD (Chestnut Hill, MA)

Michael B. Strauss, MD (Long Beach, CA)

Raymond J. Sullivan, MD (Hartford, CT)

Altug Tanriover, MD (Ankara, Turkey)

Ruth L. Thomas, MD (Little Rock, AR)

Saul G. Trevino, MD (Morrisville, VT)

J. Loch Trimingham, MD (Bellingham, WA)

Geoffrey M. Tymms, MBBS (Melbourne, Australia)

Isabella V. van Dalen, MD, PhD (Almere, Netherlands)

Robert G. Veith, MD (Renton, WA)

J. Turner Vosseller, MD (New York, NY)

Keith L. Wapner, MD (Philadelphia, PA)

Joan R. Williams, MD (Santa Monica, CA)

Yuan Zhu, MD (Shanghai, China)

Jacob R. Zide, MD (Dallas, TX)