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Interplast is a fiscally and organizationally efficient nonprofit, with qualified and dedicated directors, volunteers and staff members. For the last six years, our leadership has overseen a time of expansion and productivity that now enables Interplast to forever transform the lives of thousands each year in developing countries, and to build local medical capacity where none previously existed. 
Medical volunteers, board members, international partners and staff work together to build medical capacity in places where care is scarce. Daniel Higgins, J.D., chair: Dan is corporate partner for Paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP in San Francisco. He is co-chair of the firm’s health care practice group and a member of the policy committee, focusing on complex commercial transactions and regulatory matters in the health care field. From 1992 to 2006, Dan served as legal counsel to the Interplast board and was elected chair of the board in June 2006. Originally from Arizona, Dan graduated from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1977. Russell J. Fuller, C.F.A., Ph.D., vice-chair: Russ is president of Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, a registered investment advisory firm. Russ earned his bachelor’s, master of business administration and doctorate of philosophy degrees in finance from the University of Nebraska. From 1967 to1970, Russ served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. Prior to establishing Fuller & Thaler, Russ served as a security analyst with a brokerage firm and later as a professor and chair of the finance department at Washington State University. He has also held academic positions at the University of British Columbia and the university of Auckland, and guest lectured at Harvard, Stanford, UC-Berkeley and Santa Clara universities. Russ is currently on the advisory board for the Journal of Portfolio Management and has previously served on the editorial board for the Financial Analysts Journal. Russ and his wife, Anne, have been donors to Interplast since 2001. Robert Reed, treasurer:: Robert is senior vice president and chief financial officer for Sutter Health. Prior to assuming his current position in 1997, Robert served as vice president of finance for Sutter's western division and chief financial officer for Alta Bates Health System. Robert also has held senior positions with VHA, American Health Capital, Inc. and Blyth/Eastman Paine Webber. Currently, he serves on the finance and planning committee and the pension and investment committee of the Sutter Health board of directors, as well as on the Sacramento Region Community Foundation investment committee. Robert holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Rollins College. Robert joined the Interplast board in 2005. Radha Basu: Radha served as CEO of SupportSoft from 1999 to 2006. Prior to 1999, she was at Hewlett Packard for 20 years, with the most recent position being senior general manager of the electronic business software organization. Before joining HP, Radha was at Xerox Corporation, Los Angeles. She holds a bachelor of engineering degree from the University of Madras, India, and a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from UCLA. She also attended the Stanford Business School Executive Management Program in 1992. Radha received the 1995 Woman of Achievement Award for leadership and vision in the corporate field from San Jose Mercury News and Women's Fund. In 1997, she received the Excelsior Leadership Award from Net-IP. She is a co-founder of Maitri, a counseling and assistance organization for South Asian women, is an invited lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, is a speaker at high schools and mentoring workshops, and serves on the board of trustees of Business and Professional Women. Radha joined the Interplast board in 2005. Roxanne Chow: Roxanne is vice president of international investment for NAI Capital in Westminster, California and CEO/managing director of IPFones Inc., USA. She is also a planning commissioner for the city of Westminster. Chow is the founder and CEO of Earth Angels Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping to feed and educate orphans in developing countries. Roxanne is also the vice president of the Nhan Ai Foundation, based in Garden Grove. These are just two of her many civic and charitable activities benefiting the Vietnamese community in Southern California and those in need throughout Southeast Asia. In 2006, the Orange County Business Journal nominated Chow for its Excellence in Entrepreneurship award. She joined the Interplast board in June 2007. Joseph DuCote: Joseph is the senior managing director and chairman of the executive committee of Sutter Securities. During his 32-year investment banking career, he has been active in all phases of public and private finance, including serving as managing director for two major Wall Street brokerage firms before co-founding Sutter Securities. Joseph has also served as an advisor to the U.S. government's executive branch on strategic investment and securities-related public policy issues and he has an extensive background in global finance. A native Californian, he has served on the boards of Seton Medical Foundation, Friends of the International Student Center at UCLA, and is a member of the San Francisco Bond Club and the Municipal Bond Club of San Francisco. Joseph received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Stefanie Feldman, M.D.: Stefanie serves as chief of the department of plastic surgery at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. She is also an assistant clinical professor of surgery at the University of Southern California and was previously on the University of Arizona honors college advisory board. Stefanie has been very active with Interplast over the years, serving on the surgery, quality improvement and medical services committees. She has also volunteered as a surgeon on seven trips beginning in 1988, including two as team leader. Beyond Interplast, Stephanie has volunteered with the American Cancer Society, Christian Wings, Amigos de las Americas and the Mustarde Project. She earned her bachelor’s degree and medical degree at the University of Arizona. Lorry Frankel, M.D.: Lorry practices at Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford as the director of pediatric critical care services. Lorry has been involved with Interplast both as a member of the quality improvement committee and a medical volunteer since 1987. His commitment and skills as a pediatrician have taken him to Peru, Vietnam, Russia and Mongolia to serve impoverished patients. He previously served on the pediatrics committee for Interplast. Lorry earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Los Angeles and then attended University of Antwerp in Belgium for his medical degree. He also holds a master in business administration degree from the University of California, Irvine. Richard Gillerman, M.D., Ph.D.: Richard works in the department of anesthesia at the Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island and teaches as a clinical assistant professor at Brown Medical School. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, his doctorate in zoology from the University of Massachusetts and his medical degree from the University of Missouri. He completed postgraduate pediatric training at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, and anesthesia training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Richard has served as team leader on many volunteer surgical trips over the last decade. He also serves on Interplast’s anesthesia committee and the quality improvement committee. F. Scott Gross: Scott is chief executive officer of Siena Health Ventures. His extensive experience in health care includes serving as chairman and chief executive officer of Physio Health and founding and directing Primus Management, which managed acute care hospitals. Additionally, Scott led Carondolet Rehabilitation Centers of America and National Medical Enterprises. Scott earned his bachelor's degree from Cal State University, Northridge and his master in public administration degree from University of Southern California. He serves on the board of directors of the San Francisco YMCA and joined the Interplast board in October 2007. Russell Hirsch, M.D. Ph.D.: Prior to joining the venture capital firm of Prospect Ventures, Russell was a partner at the Mayfield Fund. He works with entrepreneurs to create technology-driven companies that measure their success not only by return on investment, but also by their contribution to the well-being of humanity. Russell holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago. He received his medical degree and doctorate of philosophy in biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. Russell has been a member of Interplast’s board since 2001. Heidi Huntsman: Heidi is a life science partner of UV Partners, a leading early-stage private equity investment group established in 1986, with offices in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Before joining UV Partners, Heidi was director of research at Tenex Greenhouse Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage biotechnology and medical device companies. In addition to her role as an investment professional, Heidi worked in investment banking as an associate equity analyst in the medical device sector of NationsBanc Montgomery Securities (now Banc of America Securities). She also managed marketing, business development and sales operations for a San Francisco-based medical supply start-up, MedChannel. She holds a master’s degree in human molecular biology and genetics, and a bachelor’s degree in physiological psychology from the University of Utah. Heidi joined the Interplast board in 2004 and volunteered on Interplast’s trip to Cusco in 2006. France Leclerc: France recently retired from her associate professor position at the University of Chicago, where she taught marketing at the Graduate School of Business. Prior to the University of Chicago, she was an assistant professor of marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a visiting professor at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. France has written more than 20 publications for major marketing and top psychology journals. She graduated from the University of Montreal with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nutritional sciences, and earned her master’s degree and doctorate in management from Cornell University. France joined the Interplast board in October 2007. Connie Martinez: Connie is the executive director of Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. Prior to becoming executive director for the museum in 2002, she served as director of strategic initiatives at the University of California, Santa Cruz and as vice president of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network. Connie also has experience in the public sector, acting as deputy city manager, planning manager and general services director for the City of Mountain View. Connie earned both a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master of business administration degree from the University of Colorado. She joined the Interplast board in 2006. Marion McGover: Marion is the co-founder and chairman for M2 Consulting Inc. and Collabrus Inc, consultanting firms that are internationally recognized as innovators in how organizations manage work. She has appeared in national publications and media outlets, including The NBC Nightly News, The Bloomburg Report and Forbes Magazine as an expert on workplace trends. Before starting M2, McGovern had consulting positions with Booz Allen & Hamilton and Arthur D. Little. Marion earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University, and her master of business administration degree from University of California, Berkeley. She has served as a board member for Hamilton Family Center, which provides shelter for homeless families in San Francisco, and for the American Liver Foundation. Since 2005, Marion has taught as an adjunct professor at MacClaren School of Business at the University of San Francisco. Currently, she resides in San Francisco with her husband and three children. Marion joined the Interplast board in 2008. Gary Pinkus: Gary is a principal at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco, and has worked at other McKinsey locations in Houston, Mexico City, Sydney and Zurich. Prior to joining McKinsey, he was with Bear Stearns Group in San Francisco. Gary has published several articles on innovation and commercialization in the biopharmaceutical industry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Stanford University and a master of business administration degree at the Harvard Business School. He joined the Interplast board in 2001. James G. Plewa: Jim is vice president of sales and service for NDS Surgical Imaging in San Jose; NDS is the global leader in designing and manufacturing comprehensive medical imaging and integration solutions for today's operative and diagnostic settings. Prior to assuming his current position, he served as president of CenterCup in San Ramon and founded and led his own business consulting firm, The Plewa Group. His extensive experience in the health care field also includes senior leadership positions with Cardinal Health, Allegiance Healthcare Corporation, Baxter International and American Hospital Supply Corporation. During his tenure at those companies (nearly 20 years), Jim led teams that assisted health care providers in delivering more cost-effective care. He earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jim joined the Interplast board in October 2007. Tim Smith: Tim is the president of Fairway Asset Management. Before starting Fairway Asset Management, Tim worked in the private client group for Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Wachovia. Tim earned his bachelor of science degree in business administration and economics from Saint Mary's College. After Tim's oldest child was born with a cleft lip and palate, he wanted to help kids who were born with deformities and did not have access to the care that his son did. Tim joined the Interplast board in 2004. John C. Tang: John is a partner in the securities litigation and professional liability group of Latham Watkins LLP, where he has represented groups like the Ford Motor Company, Altera Corporation and Covad Communications. Prior to joining Latham Watkins, John clerked for Chief Judge Edward Cahn at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. John received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar at Columbia University, where he received his law degree. He is an advisory board member for the Asian Law Alliance, which is a nonprofit provider of legal services for the Asian/Pacific Islander community in California's Santa Clara County. John joined the Interplast board in April 2007. Sanjay Vaswani: Sanjay is managing director of the Center for Corporate Innovation (CCI), which develops and conducts ongoing executive forums for CEOs, presidents and senior executives of major health care organizations and technology companies across the United States. Before joining CCI, Sanjay was an associate in McKinsey Company, Inc.'s Los Angeles office from 1987 to 1990, where he worked with companies in the electronics and health care industries. Prior to that, Sanjay worked for Intel, where he concentrated on finance and strategic planning activities. Sanjay received his master of business administration degree from the Wharton School of Business, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He serves on the boards of Brocade Communications Systems and Blue Star Infotech. Sanjay joined the Interplast board in April 2007. Rosemary Welde, R.N., M.B.A.: Rosemary has spent the last 25 years as an operating room nurse at Stanford. She also is an educator, lecturer and coach in her field of heath care management. She earned her nursing degree at St. Agnes School of Nursing in Philadelphia, a bachelor’s degree in psychology at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a master of business administration degree at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. Rosemary has been a medical volunteer with Interplast since 1984 and joined the Interplast board in 2001. DeAnn Work, J.D.: DeAnn is senior counsel at the San Francisco offices of McKesson Corporation, provider of supply, information and care management products and services. Before joining McKesson, DeAnn was a business strategy consultant to early-stage health care companies and director of business strategy at Netcentives, Inc., an Internet marketing company. She began her career as an attorney in the mergers and acquisitions group at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. DeAnn holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a law degree from Harvard Law School. She joined the Interplast board in 2004. Kathy Yates: Kathy is chief operating officer of Allbusiness.com, an Internet media company serving the small business market. She has previously been president and COO of MarketWatch.com, founder and vice president of business development for Knight Ridder Digital and senior vice president and general manager of the San Jose Mercury News. She has been very active in the nonprofit sector, serving on the boards of the San Jose Museum of Art, United Way of Silicon Valley, San Jose Repertory Theater, Health Dimensions, KTEH and Bellarmine College Preparatory School. Kathy earned her bachelor's degree from Trinity College and her master of business administration degree from Stanford University. Kathy joined the Interplast board in 2006. Kevin Young: Kevin is executive vice president of commercial operations for Gilead Sciences and has responsibility for global commercial activities for Gilead's product portfolio of HIV, hepatitis and anti-fungal medicines. He has 24 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, holding positions previously at Amgen, Inc. and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (formerly ICI Pharmaceuticals). During his 12 years at Amgen, Kevin held a number of positions in Europe and the United States, including general manager of UK & Ireland and vice president of the U.S. inflammation business unit. Kevin received undergraduate and graduate degrees in sports science and exercise from Liverpool John Moores University and Nottingham University in England and has completed the executive program at the University of Michigan. Arun Patel, legal counsel M.D., J.D.: Arun is an associate in the health care group of the San Francisco office of Paul Hastings, Janofsky Walker, LLP. He is a board-certified pediatrician, earning is bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993 and his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 1997. Arun also earned a law degree from Stanford University in 2004, where he was an associate managing editor of features for the Stanford Law and Policy Review and an academic officer of BioLaw, Stanford Law School’s group on law and biotechnology. Susan Hayes, Interplast president and CEO: Susan joined Interplast as president and CEO in 1996, with 15 years of management, fundraising and media experience. In 1981, she served as the vice president of development and publicity for the western New York Public Broadcasting Association, responsible for raising all privately generated revenue for its five public television and radio stations. Previously, Susan was a political science instructor at Syracuse University and the University of South Carolina, and a project manager for Syracuse Research Corporation. Susan holds two master’s degrees from Syracuse University and did doctorate of philosophy course work in political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Interplast supports 12 permanent Surgical Outreach Centers in Africa: Ghana (2), and Zambia; in Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka; and in Latin America: Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru (2)—a concerted global humanitarian effort to uplift the lives of impoverished children everywhere. Here are the people who direct our year-round centers. 
Dr. Agbenorku with burn patient. As one of only six plastic surgeons in the country, Dr. Pius Agbenorku serves the medically underserved in the city of Kumasi and in the Upper Volta region of the country. Pius is the founder of the plastic and burns surgery unit at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. He also serves as the unit's senior lecturer and consultant plastic surgeon. So that he could provide care to those who needed his services most, Pius also helped found the Global Evangelical Mission Hospital in Apromase-Ashanti, on the outskirts of Kumasi. And several times a year, he travels a full day to the cluster of villages in the Upper Volta region, where he was raised, to perform surgeries. By taking the Surgical Outreach Center "on the road," he is able to care for greater numbers of children in even more remote regions of Ghana. Pius received his medical degree from the Lvov State Medical Institute in the Ukraine, his postgraduate general and plastic surgery training at the State Railway Hospital in Wroclaw, and received a doctorate in philosophy in medical sciences from the Wroclaw Medical Academy. 
Dr. Goran Jovic is the only reconstructive plastic surgeon in Zambia.
Dr. Goran Jovic is the only plastic surgeon in Zambia—a country of more than 11 million people where 73 percent of the citizens live below the poverty level. With Interplast’s support, he has transformed the lives of nearly 1,000 people with clefts and disabling burns since 1999. In addition to performing surgeries in Lusaka, Goran flies to remote areas of Zambia through 'FLYSPEC,' an organization founded by Dr. John Jellis, an orthopedic surgeon who has been flying his private plane to treat underserved patients for 20 years. Goran and John make about three or four trips a month, working in government and mission hospitals in remote areas all over Zambia. In addition to treating patients, the surgeons strive to help local doctors and surgeons in rural areas advance their medical skills and services. Goran is a native of Serbia, grew up in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia and completed his training in plastic surgery in Yugoslavia and Croatia. Goran and his wife, Rada, left Europe in the early 1990s and worked in Kuala Lumpur and Zimbabwe before settling in Lusaka, Zambia in 1993. He is currently on staff at two hospitals: the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), a public facility which is also Zambia's main teaching hospital; and the Zambian Italian Orthopedic Hospital (ZIOH), a private hospital that provides only orthopedic and reconstructive plastic surgical care.
Dr. Albert Paintsil brings his expertise in clefts and other congenital anomalies of the limbs, hands, trauma and cancer surgery to his role as Surgical Outreach director. His primary specialty is caring for burn patients. As director of Accra's Surgical Outreach Center and as one of only six plastic surgeons in Ghana, Albert is helping thousands of children and young adults who have no other access to the kind of life-changing medical attention he provides. Albert serves as the director of the Plastic Surgery Center at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital and is a consultant plastic surgeon and lecturer with the surgery department at the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra. He received his medical training in the United Kingdom and Ghana. The care Albert gives his medically needy patients gives him great satisfaction. So, too, does the fact that his partnership with Interplast allows him greater contact with his fellow plastic surgeons worldwide. Albert is enthusiastic about Interplast's Grand Rounds, a "virtual teaching hospital" that allows him to confer with his colleagues around the world about difficult cases. Dr. Yogi Aeron For more than 35 years, Dr. Yogi Aeron has cared for the people of Dehradun in Uttaranchal, in the mountains east of Delhi. Much has changed in those three decades. In the early days, his reconstructive surgery practice was in his home; his wife sterilized the surgical instruments in a portable autoclave set up on a kerosene stove. Yogi graduated from King George’s Medical College in 1967. He obtained a master’s degree in plastic and reconstructive surgery in 1971 from Prince of Wales Medical College and Hospital. He has worked in government hospitals in Lucknow and Dehradun, and the Prince of Wales Medical College and Hospital. Yogi refreshed his cleft craft from Dr. R. Millard in Miami in 1982. From 2000 until 2006, Yogi again visited and trained with various plastic surgeons in the United States. Yogi brings his decades of experience and specialized training to his partnership with Interplast. Today, he serves as the head of the plastic surgery department at Dehradun’s Disha Hospital. As in most developing countries, burns comprise a large part of his practice, along with cleft repairs. He is committed to the region’s poor: he founded Helping Hand to provide medical care to the poor and needy and, now, through Interplast he is able to extend his altruistic reach. The remote foothills of the Himalayas, where wildlife and humanity coexist, are hours from Dehradun, but Yogi’s skills are in demand among the isolated mountain denizens. Some of his accomplishments include doing the world’s largest series of reconstruction of bear bite cases (12) and designing 10 new reconstructive flaps.
Since 1990, Dr. Khundkar has worked with Interplast surgical teams in Bangladesh. In 2000, Interplast established a Surgical Outreach Center in Dhaka so that Shafquat and his team of colleagues and medical residents could provide care to poor Bangladeshi patients year-round. He completed his medical training at Dhaka Medical College and received intensive general surgery training at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1988, he received a World Health Organization fellowship to train in plastic surgery in Melbourne, Australia. The profound impact that plastic surgery could have on a person's life inspired him to return to Bangladesh and devote his time to charitable work, alongside his private practice. He is one of only about 15 plastic surgeons in Bangladesh, a country of almost 150 million people. Shafquat is head of the plastic and reconstructive surgery department at Dhaka Medical College and founded the country’s first plastic surgery program—which has already doubled the number of plastic surgeons in Bangladesh. He is a medical advisor with the Acid Survivors Foundation, which is helping to alleviate the suffering of acid burn victims. Shafquat also has serviced as president of Bangladesh’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons Association and is a life member of the Burn Association.
Dr. Kiran Nakarmi is the only hand surgeon in Nepal and directs Interplast’s Nepal program with Dr. Shankar Man Rai. After his general surgery residency in 2000, Kiran joined Shankar’s Interplast team and started to learn cleft repair, burn reconstruction and other plastic surgical skills from Shankar. In 2002, he went to the United States for a year-long hand and microsurgery fellowship. Kiran also trained in burns, plastic surgery and hand surgery at: Harborview Medical Center, Seattle; Parkland Hospital, Dallas; the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. He then returned to Nepal before heading to Australia where he received his plastic surgery registration at the Liverpool Public Hospital in Sydney. Since receiving his credentials in 2006, Kiran has helped direct the Interplast Surgical Outreach program in Nepal, serving cleft, burn and hand patients. Like many of the Surgical Outreach directors, Kiran has served as surgeon on several Interplast team trips, including trips to Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Peru.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Puneet Pasricha is the chief plastic surgeon and director of the Pasricha Hospital, a multi-specialty hospital in Jalandhar. Puneet, born and raised in Punjab, received his general surgery training at the Dayanand Medical College in Ludhiana and his plastic surgery training at the Government Medical College in Patiala. He received advanced plastic surgery training in France, Taiwan and the United States. He has performed more than 10,000 surgeries in the last 20 years and is deeply interested in the welfare of poor patients with cleft lips, cleft palates and post-burn and post-traumatic deformities.
Dr. Chandini Perera, who is one of only six plastic surgeons in Sri Lanka, directs the country’s only burn care facility in Colombo. Many of Chandini’s patients are the victims of domestic abuse who received their burns as an act of violence or as self-mutilation. There is a tragic rise of acid burns and self-inflicted burns among women in Sri Lanka. Others have suffered tragic accidents; and all have nowhere else to turn for their disabling burns. Raising awareness about disabling burns (from violence or accidents) throughout Sri Lanka is Chandini’s priority. “There has been a lack of knowledge about burns here. Burn patients are neglected and subject to much misery; the resulting deformities are severe and crippling,” said Chandini. When she began at the National Hospital seven years ago, her first task was to educate medical professionals about burn care, while building a core team to staff the country’s first burn unit. Chandini conducts seminars for doctors and more than 300 nurses and 50 physical therapists are trained in burn care annually. Interplast sends visiting educators to Sri Lanka to help her provide this advanced medical training. Interplast is also sending her to Nicaragua to teach surgeons there, as well as sending Sri Lankan physical therapists who work with her to learn advance therapy from the Nicaraguans. Chandini graduated from the North Colombo Teaching Hospital in 1989, and obtained her first fellowship in surgery in 1995. In 1997, she obtained her second fellowship at the Burns Plastic, Reconstructive and Maxillofacial Unit, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. She trained in general plastics, burns and ear surgery and breast reconstruction from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, she returned to Sri Lanka and was appointed to her current position.
Dr. Shankar Man Rai, a world-renowned expert at repairing clefts and burn injuries, has performed nearly 7,500 free surgeries for impoverished children. He has also helped more than 1,500 children in rural Nepal heal their speech impediments through the speech therapy camps he founded. In 1999, Shankar established the first Interplast Surgical Outreach program. With the success of his outreach pilot program, he began meeting with Interplast partners from other developing countries, sharing his experience and model. Now, more than 75 percent of all Interplast surgeries are performed by developing world surgeons like Shankar at 12 centers in nine countries. He also created the first medical residency program in Nepal’s history in the specialty of plastic reconstructive surgery, resulting in a new generation of surgeons to treat the poor of his country. Shankar was born in rural Nepal, about 100 miles from the nearest major road, to a poor farming family. He was the first in his family to reach his level of education and professionalism. Soon after his general surgery training, he observed Interplast volunteer doctors performing a cleft lip surgery in Kathmandu and decided that he wanted to do the same. After three years of plastic surgery training in the United States, he returned to Nepal to dedicate his knowledge and skill to helping others. In 2004, the American Medical Association honored Shankar with its Nathan R. Davis Award in International Medicine and Public Health for his devotion and skill; he was the first doctor from a developing country to receive this prize. In 2005, he received a World of Children award for his remarkable service.
Dr. de la Cruz began working with Interplast in 1984 as a surgical volunteer on team trips to his region. In 2000, the Interplast Surgical Outreach Center in Piura was established to serve more rural areas of Peru near the coast and the surrounding hillsides; Jorge became its director. Jorge collaborates closely with the Red Cross in Sullana and other independent social welfare workers to refer patients to the Interplast Surgical Outreach Center. He and his team mostly operate at the Ministry of Health Hospital in Sullana, Peru (about an hour from Piura) because of that hospital's greater access to resources for underserved patients. Occasionally, he performs some surgeries at local private hospitals or clinics in Piura, or in his private offices. Jorge studied medicine at the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos in Lima. He was trained in general surgery at the Hospital Edgardo Rebagliatti Martins IPSS in Lima, and then in plastic surgery at the Hospital Cayetano Heredia in Piura, Peru, with further specialization at Hospital Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen in Lima.
In Ecuador, where nearly 70 percent of children live in poverty, prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Jorge Palacios has dedicated his life to serving such children and adults. For almost 30 years, Jorge has helped impoverished people who have clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries receive the life-changing medical care they need. As founding director of the Interplast Surgical Outreach Center in Guayaquil, Jorge and his team treat patients in the city and also travel regularly by bus to more rural areas of Ecuador to care for other patients. He also is the founder of a local charity called 'Fundacion Rostros Felices' (Happy Faces Foundation, which Jorge calls the “daughter of Interplast”). His charity provides reconstructive plastic surgery for local children with clefts. Jorge (in just the last 17 years) has performed or provided surgery for more than 6,000 impoverished children and adults. Jorge is the chief surgeon of the plastic surgery department in Guayaquil’s Leon Becerra Children's Hospital and of Luis Vernaza Hospital’s burn unit, which he founded. Moreover, he started Ecuador’s first residency program to increase the pool of local plastic surgeons devoted to helping the poor in their own communities. Now these young men and women are joining him to care for those in critical need of reconstructive surgery in Ecuador—providing new hope, today and for the future. Jorge graduated with a degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Guayaquil. He was a general surgery resident and chief resident in Guayaquil's Hospital del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Bienestar Social. Jorge specialized in plastic surgery at the Ramos Mejia Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He also studied at Stanford University for a one-year plastic surgery fellowship in 1977. Dr. Mario Pérez Since 1996, Dr. Mario Perez has worked with Interplast. In 2005, he became director of its Surgical Outreach Center in Managua, which focuses on correcting clefts and disabling burns in underserved rural areas. Mario is also the director of the APROQUEN Burn Unit, an organization that helps Nicaraguan children suffering from debilitating burns, and works at the Hospital Metropolitano Vivian Pellas, which boasts a new, world-class burn unit—one of the best burn units in Central America. A native of León, Nicaragua, Mario attended medical school at the National University of León and interned at University Hospital of León. He completed his training in general surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery under the supervision and evaluation of a program with the University of Wisconsin; he also has received additional training in microsurgery and hand surgery.
Dr. Rossell-Perry, who has volunteered with Interplast since 1994, has been director of the Interplast Surgical Outreach Center in Lima since 2002. In addition to operating in Lima, Percy and his team often travel to poorer areas of Peru to perform surgeries in local hospitals and clinics, as well as screen patients. This kind of travel, undertaken by many of the Surgical Outreach Centers, creates "mobile" clinics that can reach patients and communities effectively year-round. Percy and his team also work with Armonizar ("The Harmony Foundation") in order to provide comprehensive care to patients treated through the Interplast Surgical Outreach Center; this local Peruvian foundation provides speech therapy, education and counseling to children who have had corrective surgeries for cleft palate defects so that they can reintegrate into schools and social life. Percy studied medicine in Lima's San Marcos Major National University. He developed his specialty in plastic surgery at the Kirschbaum Institute and the Peruvian Army Hospital, with additional training in cancer reconstructive surgery at the National Oncology Institute in Lima. He has been a member of the academic faculty at San Marcos Major National University and received a master's degree. In 2004, Percy was a fellow at Emory University in Atlanta and M.D. Anderson in Houston; he received advanced plastic surgery training in craniofacial, microsurgery and cleft surgery, as well as many other reconstructive techniques. 
Susan Hayes with a burn patient in Vietnam. Susan W. Hayes Local honors include a 1998 Outstanding Women of Silicon Valley award and a 2002 Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) Award. Susan has served on the Board of Directors of the YWCA of Santa Clara Valley, currently serves on the board of Yes Reading, is a volunteer on-air host for public television station KTEH in San Jose, and frequently provides pro-bono counsel to local nonprofits on the subjects of nonprofit governance. A native of South Carolina, Susan lived for 20 years in New York State, and now resides in San Jose. Scott Corlew, M.D. Nicole Friedland Sara E. Anderson Jason Altman, M.D. Susan Babiarz Jane Chen Francine Cunniffe Michael Demian Jim Dirck George Gregory, M.D. Beverly Kent Amy Laden Ken Nessel Teresa Olson Dora Rusin-Gomez, M.D. Michelle Spring, M.D. Liliana Vazquez Medical Services Committee There are no jobs available at this time.
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