August 2026

Dear friends,

This month, we celebrate forty years of partnership, learning, and stronger health systems. Since 1986, nearly 7,500 HVO volunteers have taught and mentored tens of thousands of colleagues in 57 countries. Those health workers have gone on to train others and have cared for millions of patients collectively, creating a ripple effect that continues today. Together, we helped raise the childhood cancer survival rate in Cambodia from 0% to 66%. We developed Suriname's first physical therapy degree program. We trained Nicaragua's very first pediatric hand surgeon. Forty years later, the providers HVO helped train are still saving lives.

As we celebrate this milestone, we also recognize that it comes at a pivotal moment. Funding cuts, climate change, conflict, and rising rates of cancer and chronic disease are placing unprecedented strain on health systems worldwide. The need for well-trained health workers and the partnerships that sustain them has never been greater. Quality health care for all requires long-term investment, and it is an investment we are proud to make with you. Forty years has brought us here. Together, we will continue to grow, adapt, and strengthen health systems through the respectful collaboration that has always defined HVO.

Join us throughout this anniversary year as we honor the volunteers, partners, donors, and communities who have shaped HVO's first forty years and who will help write the next chapter of our shared impact.

Sincerely,

April

April Pinner, MSPH, RD

Executive Director

Nancy Kelly, MHS, served as HVO’s first executive director from 1986 to 2022.



When I look back at my first official day at HVO - August 1, 1986 - I am amazed. I didn't have a job description, or even a job title yet. "Executive Director" seemed lofty, given that my office was an 8x8 interior room we had sublet, furnished with a borrowed desk, chair, and filing cabinet. That morning, our first computer was delivered, and I had to set it up with the help of a friend. The pre-installed software included dBase, Lotus 1-2-3, and WordPerfect, all top-of-the-line at that time. My next challenge was learning how to use it.

After conquering the computer set-up, I sat down and asked myself, "Now what?" I had a mission statement, a three-member board, an annual working budget of $40,000, and several orthopaedic projects. It seemed smart to begin by raising some money, so I wrote my first fundraising letter and sent it to more than 60 orthopaedic surgeons. That took the better part of a week, but I was richly rewarded — almost everyone donated. I remember thinking, fundraising isn’t all that hard.

Being young, I wasn’t deterred by what a monumental undertaking this was going to be. I remember chatting with a friend who was an executive director. She was amazed that I had taken on this challenge, but I was too excited to be worried about the responsibility I had accepted. I believed deeply in the idea that HVO would make a substantial contribution in global health. I still believe, but now I have decades of evidence.

And so it began, with a simple but powerful idea, the one so often captured in that old Chinese adage about teaching a man to fish. HVO began to gain traction as prospective volunteers realized they could be part of something bigger — that they could contribute to the construction of a stronger, more effective, more resilient health care system that would outlast any one individual.