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Overseas Outreach

 

Congratulations to AOFAS members Amanda Fantry, MD, and Chelsea Sullivan Mathews, MD, on their selection as volunteers for the 2023 Overseas Outreach trip to Kenya! This year's experience will take place October 9-13, 2023.

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.

The Foundation has sponsored outreach trips to Vietnam and Kenya 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.

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.

Surgery in KenyaAOFAS volunteers work alongside well-trained Kenyan attending and resident orthopaedic surgeons in both the operating room and clinic, providing much-needed education in adult foot and ankle surgery. Volunteers may be asked to do formal presentations along with teaching in clinical situations.

Participants are responsible for their own airfare to travel to Kenya before and after the experience. In-country expenses for food, lodging, travel, and logistics are covered by the Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Foundation.

The inaugural trip to Kenya was in October 2019 and the second trip took place in November 2022. Read about the 2019 and 2022 Kenya Projects.

 

Dominican Republic

For the first time, the Foundation will be sending a volunteer to help patients in need in the Dominican Republic. Coordinated through GLORI (Great Lakes Orthopedic Relief International), the humanitarian trip will take place from September 30-October 7, 2023. The AOFAS surgeon will accompany a trauma surgeon and a hand surgeon on the trip.

Congratulations to Gil Genuth, MD, on his selection as the AOFAS volunteer to the Dominican Republic!

 

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.

Vietnam 3

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
"My favorite part of this mission is working with the other AOFAS surgeons. We learn from each other."
— Ruth L. Thomas, 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)
  • Loretta B. Chou, MD (Redwood City, CA)
  • R. Richard Coughlin, MD (San Francisco, CA)
  • 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)
  • Jessica A. Faught, MD (Portland, ME)
  • Lorenzo Gamez, MD (East Setauket, NY)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)