• 

  the issue	•	team	•	contact	•	press center	•	supporters

• 

  guatemala	•	liberia	•	dominican republic	•	lifestyle modification

• 
• 

  soul cycle charity ride	•	hunter bellevue nursing students fundraiser

• 

		NICHOLE YOUNG-LIN, PRESIDENT Young-Lin graduated from UC-Berkeley in 2007 with bachelor's degrees in political economy of industrial societies and public health, and from Columbia University's post-baccalaureate program. She got the idea for Saving Mothers after writing her thesis on maternal mortality with a focus on postpartum hemorrhage. She and Medical Director Taraneh Shirazian started the nonprofit in 2008 after working together in Sierra Leone and Liberia and recognizing the need for programs dedicated to empowering women.
		TARANEH SHIRAZIAN, MD MEDICAL PROGRAMS DIRECTOR Shirazian is the Director of Global Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and practices as a gynecologic surgeon. She runs a preparatory global health course for NYC obgyn residents to educate them prior to their international electives abroad. She also serves on a USAID maternal health task force dedicated to decreasing worldwide maternal mortality. Her vision is to develop programs that improve women's access to quality health care in low resource settings worldwide.
Advisory Board
		NILS HENNIG, MD, BOARD MEMBER Hennig is the director of the Master of Public Health Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Associate Director of the Mount Sinai Global Health Center. Dr. Hennig has broad international health experience. He worked for years as Medical Coordinator and Program Officer for Medicines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in emergency situations in Liberia (2001), Afghanistan (2001, 2002) Angola (2002), Sierra Leone (2002 - 2003), Northern Uganda (2004), on long-term projects in tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia (2003), research on malaria in Sierra Leone (2002 - 2003), and in advocacy and as medical advisor in the USA.
		CHARLES ASCHER-WALSH, MD, BOARD MEMBER Ascher-Walsh is the Director of Gynecology at Mount Sinai Hospital and a urogynecologist. His areas of surgical specialty include uterine prolapse, urinary incontinence, fistula repair and fibroids. He has extensive international experience over the last decade performing fistula surgery in Niger and training a local surgeon to become the community's fistula champion. This expertise informs our surgical outreach programs in Liberia and Guatemala.
		NERYS BENFIELD, MD, BOARD MEMBER Dr. Benfield is an assistant professor in the division of Family Planning and Global Women's Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. She completed her residency and family planning fellowship at UC-San Francisco and her master's in public health at UC-Berkeley. Dr Benfield's research interests include the integration of contraceptive counseling, access, and distribution into medical care for high-risk women both domestically and internationally, uro-genital fistula, and clinical training and health technologies in low-resource settings. She has worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo for over four years, engaged in family planning and obstetric-gynecologic research, education, and training.
Global Health Fellow
		ERIN GERTZ, MD DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PROGRAM MANAGER Gertz is the first Global Health Fellow for Saving Mothers and the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology an Reproductive Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. After living and studying in Latin America, East Africa and India with the Friends World Program of Long Island University, she decided to become a health care provider for women. She graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii and completed her OB/Gyn residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC. She joined the Saving Mothers team because she shares the belief that providing necessary health care is key to empowering women and improving lives.
Program Coordinators
GUATEMALA
		JESSICA OLIVEIRA, FUNDRAISING CHAIR & GUATEMALA PROJECT MANAGER Oliveira is a board-certified Ob-Gyn Physician Assistant at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. She works with Saving Mothers volunteers to provide support and education to local midwives and health care providers in Lago Atitlan, Guatemala — and volunteers at the local hospital herself. Oliveira is also a key member of Medical Mission Group, an international nonprofit that provides surgical care and support to those in need. She was inspired to work with Saving Mothers because it "provides a direct path to true healing, which encompasses much more than just medical support. We are able to change many women's lives in a tremendously positive way that lasts forever."
		FREDY PEREZ HERNANDEZ GUATEMALA PROJECT LIAISON Hernandez was born and raised in the Lago Atitlan area, the capital of the Mayan Tzutujil nation, and speaks Spanish, Tzutujil (among other Mayan dialects), and English. He is actively involved in many projects supportive of an inter-cultural awareness that allows for an exchange of knowledge, empowering and educating communities living in San Juan la Laguna, Lake Atitlan. He serves as an educator in his village and a liaison for those interested in the sustainability of the Mayan people.
LIBERIA
		KIRAN CHAWLA LIBERIA PROGRAM MANAGER Chawla is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and NYU Lagone Medical Center. She volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in Liberia in 2008. Today, she directs Saving Mothers' diverse programs in Liberia, with a focus on helping Liberian physicians and medical staff develop their obstetric and gynecological skills.
DOMESTIC - LIFESTYLE MODIFICATION PROGRAM
		SAMANTHA SMITH COMMUNITY PROGRAMS DIRECTOR Smith, a registered nurse on the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Mount Sinai Medical Center, got involved with Saving Mothers because she wanted to use her skills outside of the traditional hospital setting. Through her years of experience as a labor and delivery nurse, she combines her women's health and critical care knowledge to help the team on various levels, from recovering surgical patients abroad to mentoring pregant women locally about healthy lifestyle modification. She continues to enlighten our community about Saving Mothers and women's health issues by engaging them in local fundraising events and awareness campaigns.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
		VALERIE GRUHN, FUNDRAISING DIRECTOR Gruhn is a registered nurse who recently graduated from the Hunter Bellevue School of Nursing. She has been working at Mount Sinai Medical Center since 2007 at the outpatient laboratory. She volunteered and fundraised for the Telethon of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in 2003 and eventually started her international medical experience in Thailand in 2011, assisting medical staff with treating predominant tropical and infectious diseases and screening for tuberculosis and HIV. She has since focused her career on global health and became keenly interested in the work Saving Mothers does around the world, and the immense impact Saving Mothers has on women and their families every day.
		CAMILLE RICKETTS, WEB & MEDIA DIRECTOR Ricketts, who specializes in design and editorial work for Saving Mothers, comes from a background in journalism. She currently works in communications at electric car company Tesla Motors, but was inspired by her coursework in women's studies at Stanford to get involved with Saving Mothers. Previously, she worked at The Wall Street Journal, Google and tech blog VentureBeat.
		LAUREN GOLLAHER SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Gollaher is a student at Stanford Law School. Previously, she worked in the biopharmaceutical sector for four years. She became involved with Saving Mothers during her junior year of college at UC-Berkeley and assumed the position of Social Media Coordinator in 2010. Gollaher works to share up-to-date information on issues related to maternal health and well-being on the Saving Mothers Blog, Facebook, Twitter and through other social media venues.
		LEIANN LOPEZ ASSISTANT PROGRAM DEVELOPER Lopez studied at the City College of New York, where she majored in International Studies focusing in culture and communications, and women's studies. She became involved with Saving Mothers through the organization's birth kit project. Upon learning about fistulas and the need for surgical repair in regions of Africa, she was inspired by Saving Mothers' work in both Liberia and Guatemala.