In 2016, nutrition specialist Dr. Susan Kleiner’s husband received a call from a friend looking for a dentist to join a volunteer trip to Can Tho, Vietnam. He asked Dr. Kleiner what she thought he should do. “I said, ‘Well…
By Katharine Lowndes, MBBS, FRCPath In 2018, when I was looking into volunteering opportunities, HVO stood out as – and remains – one of the very few organisations where haematologists can volunteer their expertise. I had previously undertaken some volunteer…
In December 2024, HVO and DI Skin Hospital and Referral Center (DISHARC) hosted a hybrid in-person and online symposium dedicated to pediatric dermatology for 110 attendees, 45 of whom joined virtually from as far away as Vietnam, Cambodia, Uganda, Saudi…
Watch the video to hear Dr. Yvonne Vaucher and Dr. Margaret Nakeeto share their work in neonatal care in Uganda. In the twenty-three years since Dr. Yvonne Vaucher first traveled to Uganda on an HVO assignment, she and Dr. Margaret…
By Yangden Yangden is the charge nurse for the palliative care service at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu, Bhutan. She and her colleagues, with support from HVO volunteers, established the first palliative care service in Bhutan. They…
Authors: Vanessa Teed, MSN, RN, CEN, CGNC & Kristin Ferguson, DNP, MBA, RN, OCN In early October 2024, Vanessa Teed and Kristin Ferguson met for the first time for dinner in Hanoi, Vietnam. They had briefly connected over email and WhatsApp…
By Madeleine Hines, DPT I found HVO while I was searching for an organization that did sustainable service travel for physical therapists. I read the websites of many organizations that assisted medical professionals in voluntourism, but HVO’s mission and model stuck out…
For background information on Dr. Erdin’s team, partnerships, and previous trips, read last year’s blog: https://hvousa.org/blog/building-relationships-and-improving-orthopaedic-healthcare-in-tanzania/ Dr. Robert Erdin has been volunteering with HVO’s orthopaedic project at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania since 2020, leading team trips and…
Dr. Larry Greenbaum recently volunteered with HVO’s pediatric projects at Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) in Siem Reap, Cambodia as well as at Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) in Luang Prabang, Laos, lending his expertise in pediatric nephrology. While…
Dr. Jill Derstine has been an HVO member and volunteer since the 90s and in that time has served as director for a number of HVO’s nursing projects. She is also a current steering committee member along with Mrs. Patty…
In August 2022, HVO volunteer Dr. Mark Koh Jean Aan, clinical associate professor and head and senior consultant at the Department of Dermatology of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Singapore, headed to Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (HueUMP)…
In March 2024, Jordan Tropf, MD, traveled to Moshi, Tanzania to teach at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC). He was the recipient of an HVO Traveling Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowship. The fellowship provides funding to defray the costs for senior orthopaedic…