Michael is currently a medical student at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine. He is also a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist employed with Sleep Diagnostics of Michigan, where is he is responsible for the treatment of patients with various types of sleep disorders. Previously, Michael was a Peace Corps volunteer in Shinyanga, Tanzania, where he was active in educational and health promotion activities for secondary school students throughout the Lake Zone. He holds a B.S. in Zoology from Michigan State University.

Mwavisu is a Tanzanian national currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Medical Technology from Michigan State University. Her family's ancestral home is Tarime, which is in the Lake Zone's Mara region. Mwavisu spent much of her childhood growing up in Mara and Shinyanga, before finishing secondary school on the coast at Tanga Technical Secondary School. Mwavisu intends to attend medical school upon completion of her undergraduate work and then looks forward to dedicating herself to the development of her home country.

Sophie is not new to supporting important causes. She is responsible for coordinating Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives for the Kinnevik Group and served as a founding board member of Queen Silvia's World Childhood Foundation, an organization addressing the needs of children in poverty worldwide. Most recently, Sophie founded Remedee, a non-profit that utilizes the power of media to maximize social impact. For Jessie, this marathon is her first introduction to the Touch Foundation. A sales representative for Endo Pharmaceuticals, Jessie is finding that our mission resonates with many of her colleagues in the healthcare profession. We are inspired by Sophie and Jessie’s spirit and athletic stamina and thank them for supporting the training of healthcare workers in Tanzania!

John & Andrew
Skilled online marketing professionals, Touch Foundation volunteers Andrew Chomer and John Malysiak are experts in “Search Marketing” and are playing a vital role to maximize the Touch Foundation and Who Cares? Campaign’s presence online. By day, both Andrew and John work at Resolution Media, which is part of Omnicom’s media arm. John and Andrew’s clients have included Eli Lilly, Bank of America, Pepsi, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, among others.

Specifically, Andrew and John are helping Touch to implement an online advertising account, which we received as an in-kind donation from the Google Grants program in July. The Google Grants program empowers nonprofit organizations like Touch to achieve their goals by promoting their websites via advertising on Google. Google ads appear when users search on Google. For example when you search for "global health" on Google, text ads related to world poverty appear on the right hand side. When you click on one of the ads, you are brought to the website being advertised.

Our online advertising account from Google can be used it in a variety of ways, including general outreach, fundraising activities, and recruitment of volunteers. Ultimately, Andrew Chomer and John Malysiak, together with the Google Grants program, are helping Touch to increase our number of followers and supporters, enabling us to improve the lives of Tanzanians.

Through the Young Leaders group, I have met and become friends with numerous intelligent, interesting, fun, and socially conscious people. But more than that, as a young person who spends much of my time on such mundane activities as editing spreadsheets in a glass cubicle, working for this cause provides an opportunity to help make a positive impact on the world, and to be a part of the solution for one of the great problems of our time – the health crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. I look forward to continuing my efforts with Young Leaders through the newly launched Who Cares? Campaign.”

Matt is an Associate at 3i Growth Capital in New York. Prior to joining 3i, he was a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. He has volunteered for the Touch Foundation since 2006 and is a member of our Young Leaders Executive Committee.

Amani Kitali, who hails from Tanzania and is now based in New York City, is a member of our Young Leaders Executive Committee. Together with other compatriots, Amani started “Team Tanzania” in early 2009 to raise money for the Touch Foundation and give back to his country. So far, most of their fundraising efforts have relied on the online tool, Firstgiving.com.

Amani currently works as a clinical trial analyst with Schering Plough Research Institute in New Jersey. In the past, he has been heavily involved in field and lab based epidemiology research, with main focus on HIV-AIDS and AIDS-related cancers. Amani also writes a public health column for a local Tanzanian magazine.

On May 3, 2009, Stasia and Liz were among 3,5000 participants in the 13.2 miles in the 2009 RXR / TIAA-CREF Long Island Marathon: Festival of Races. The two young runners raised money for the Touch Foundation as part of the Who Cares? Campaign. Stasia and Liz finished within 5 minutes of each other after about 2 hours of pounding the pavement. Click here to see how you can raise money online for the Campaign.

Laura tutors physics and is a wicked tennis player. Robert runs a small business and enjoys fencing.