Dan Dewey
Co-Founder, PresidentDaniel Dewey, MD, president and co-founder of World Altering Medicine, is a board certified family physician currently completing a fellowship in emergency medicine. He grew up in Minnesota and went to Gustavus Adolphus College before serving in the US Peace Corps. After returning from two years overseas he worked for AFS intercultural programs before attending the University of MN Medical School and then completing his Family Medicine Residency in Santa Rosa, CA. After residency he underwent further training in HIV and tropical medicine before working for the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Africa for 1 1/2 years. He has an ongoing interest in tropical and developing world medicine.
Kevin Bergman
Co-Founder, Vice-PresidentKevin Bergman, MD is a co-founder of World Altering Medicine and a board-certified family physician and fellowship-trained emergency physician, currently working at the Contra Costa County Regional Medical Center Emergency Department in Martinez, CA. Kevin received a bachelors from Duke University in history, and worked as the Latin American marketing director for medical knowledgebase publishers Micromedex and Thomson. His work in hospitals in the developing world which helped inspire his decision to pursue a career in medicine. He is a graduate of the George Washington University Medical Center, the Santa Rosa Community Family Medicine Program, and the University of Tennessee Jackson Emergency Medicine Fellowship. Kevin is passionate about providing medical care to the world's neediest, and has volunteered in hospitals in Ladakh, Malawi, Somaliland, Ghana, Guatemala, Swaziland, and Thailand.
Eric McCollum
Country Director, MalawiDr. Eric McCollum began collaborating with WAM through the
Breath of Life project in 2009. He earned his doctorate in medicine from
Medical College of Virginia, and completed his residency training in pediatrics
at the Columbia University Medical Center.
Following his residency, Dr. McCollum moved to sub-Saharan Africa, where
he served as a founding member of the Pediatric AIDS Corps and pediatrician for
the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Lilongwe, Malawi. In
Malawi, Dr. McCollum implemented and supervised a routine inpatient pediatric
HIV testing program that tested more than 30,000 mothers and children for HIV,
and supported the Malawian Ministry of Health in the development and expansion
of a national early infant HIV diagnosis program. Currently, Dr. McCollum is a
Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellow in Malawi investigating rapid
diagnostic strategies to improve early infant diagnosis of HIV.
Davie Kondawe
Project Manager, Breath of LifeDavie Kondowe serves as Breath of Life Project Manager on the ground in Malawi. A native Malawian, from Nkhata Bay, Mr. Kondowe is a Nurse-Midwife with Malawi's Ministry of Health. He is based at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe. As Project Manager, Mr. Kondowe is responsible for monitoring and maintaining Breath of Life's oxygen concentrators in 17 Malawi hospitals, training hospital staff on the use, care and cleaning of the concentrators and serving as liaison to Breath of Life patients and their families. Mr. Kondowe is married with two children. He offers a unique perspective to our team and is dedicated to saving lives and assisting families in need.
Barry Taylor
Barry Taylor, DC is a graduate of Northwestern Health Sciences University and the University of North Dakota. He is currently enrolled in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Barry has had the opportunity to volunteer his time in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and Vietnam. He is dedicated to providing quality healthcare to underserved populations and addressing domestic as well as global disparities in health. Currently Barry works in the research department at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Minneapolis, MN.
Jeff Pierce
Education DirectorJeff Pierce, MD, is a board certified family physician currently based in Sonoma County , California . He grew up in South Texas, completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas – Pan American and his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine, where he was part of the International Medicine track. Jeff received his specialty training at the UCSF/Santa Rosa Family Medicine residency in Northern California . After residency he worked in Lesotho for a year as part of the Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric AIDS Corps. Besides his experience in Southern Africa, he has worked in Mexico , Honduras , El Salvador , Guatemala , Peru , and the Philippines . He holds a Certificate of Knowledge in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers’ Health from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and is dedicated to addressing health care needs in the developing world through direct service and the teaching of medical practitioners.
Angela Dewey
Strategic PlannerAngela Dewey is Strategic Planner and a Co-Founder of World Altering Medicine. Angela earned her undergraduate degree in International Relations & Foreign Studies from the U of MN. She provides insight, organizational guidance and planning for World Altering Medicine. She has over a decade of experience organizing and coordinating international programs. Angela studied in Italy during college and has traveled and/or worked in Central America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. She has most recently lived and worked in Swaziland, Africa. She has an enthusiasm for international volunteerism, education and cultural understanding.
Michael Honigberg
Michael Honigberg, co-founder of Breath of Life - Oxygen for Malawi. Currently a first-year M.D. candidate at Harvard Medical School, Mike started the Breath of Life project in May 2009 during a Princeton-in-Africa fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation in Lilongwe, Malawi. Mike hails from the D.C. area and graduated from Princeton University in 2008 with a degree in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is excited to be working with the fantastically dedicated team at World Altering Medicine and hopes to maintain a connection to Africa throughout his medical career.
Glenn Geelhoed
Advisory Board MemberGlenn W. Geelhoed, MD, FACS, of Washington, DC, is a founding
member of World Altering Medicine's Advisory Board. He has been Professor of
Surgery at George Washington University Medical Center since 1975, and
currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Tropical Medicine, Surgery and
International Medical Education. Recently inducted into the Medical Mission
Hall of Fame and awarded the Surgical Volunteerism Award from the American
College of Surgeons for international outreach in recognition of his devotion
to delivering surgical care and education throughout the world, Dr. Geelhoed
assembles up to eight surgical missions yearly, with teams of medical students,
residents, and physicians. Over his illustrious career, Dr. Glenn has led more
than 200 such missions to Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, and South America,
and has inspired countless others to take up the mantle. In 1996, he
established the African Regional Research Program; currently, he is developing
an international health center and international medical education program for
George Washington University. Dr. Geelhoed is a widely published author,
accredited with several books and over 800 published journal articles and book
chapters. He has a major interest in medical education in academic,
professional and international organizations and holds many degrees to assist
in furthering his mission of developing extensive volunteer services in
underserved areas of the developing world.
Ben Brown
Advisory Board MemberDr. Ben Brown graduated from UCSF medical school in 1992 and from the family medicine residency program in Santa Rosa in 1995. He is currently Director of Global Medicine, Career Development, Resident Wellness and Integrative Medicine for the Santa Rosa Family Residency Consortium Board. While in medical school, he founded and directed an international non-profit (www.ghap.org) to help serve the refugees along the Thai-Burma border and has done more than 20 medical missions to the area. Since, he has combined working with underserved populations in America with his international medical work. Within medicine, his passions are health care for the underserved, global medicine and promoting and maintaining health and wellness. Beyond medicine, he loves the outdoors, laughing with his daughter Shayla, writing, music, and living in the now.