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The Team |
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Sue Patterson
Founder and WINGS Chairperson
Sue graduated from Duke University and
became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia before
joining the Foreign Service, where she served for 25
years. Her posts included Chile, Iran, Guatemala and
Italy. She now lives permanently in Guatemala and
donates her time to WINGS.
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Meira Neggaz
Executive Director
Meira joined WINGS
in 2004. Having previously worked in women’s health in
Guatemala, she is dedicated to addressing the unmet need
for family planning and reproductive health services
throughout the country. Meira holds a MALD from the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Certificate
in International Public Health from Boston University’s
School of Public Health. She has over ten years
experience in non-profit management. |
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Emma Jane Sunderland
Program Director
Emma, who joined
WINGS in December 2005, is a qualified nurse with a
Masters in Public Health and Health Promotion. Having
previously worked for a UNDP Human Rights project in
Guatemala, Emma is actively aware of the diverse needs
in Guatemalan society. She has a keen interest in
reproductive health, and feels that “an important
problem faced by many people is the lack of access to
information about family planning methods, which enables
people to make informed choices”. Emma is devoted to
helping meet the needs of both men and women in regards
to their reproductive health.
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Delphine Liston
Program Director
Delphine joined the
WINGS team in April 2008. She has a Masters in Public
Health with a concentration in International Health from
Boston University and has maintained family planning and
reproductive health as her specific area of focus. She
has previously volunteered at Behrhorst Partners for
Development in Chimaltenango designing a prenatal
nutrition education curriculum for health promoters and
traditional birth attendants and has traveled
extensively throughout Latin America. She is aware of
the tremendous need for increased information and access
to family planning and reproductive health services in
Guatemala and is dedicated to ensuring that all men and
women are able to access quality reproductive health
care and the contraceptive methods of their choice.
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Lucrecia
(Lucky) Guzman
Office Manager
Before joining WINGS Lucky worked for six
years at the Ixmacane Assocation, which trains midwives
for areas where there is a high level of infant
mortality. “It was during this time that I noticed how
bad education and information was on health issues in
Guatemala, especially for women. I firmly believe that
reproductive and sexual health education can make an
enormous difference to the lives of people who, through
a lack of education, culture, and religious beliefs,
have never had access to it.”
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Lourdes Tojin
Cervical Cancer Project Coordinator
Lourdes has been
with WINGS since it's inception and has a wealth of
experience in bringing family planning knowledge and sex
education to Guatemalans living in poverty. She was born
and raised in a rural area and has seen the first-hand
effects of insufficient sexual education. “I see the
great necessity that Guatemalans have for planning their
families; many of them do not do it because of a lack of
knowledge. I want to help fix this and be effective at
it." |
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Luis Ordonez
Family Planning Project Coordinator
Luis, who has also been with WINGS since the beginning,
devotes a good part of his time giving educational talks
about family planning and contraceptive methods to
Guatemalans of all ages (mostly male) in schools, at
construction sites, and on farms. Working to promote
reproductive health appears to run in his family, as
both parents are also employed in the field. “I feel
personal satisfaction about the numbers of men I have
convinced to opt for family planning." |
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Danessa Johana Luna De
León
Advocates for Youth Coordinator
Danessa graduated from the San Carlos
University’s School of Political Science with a degree
in Sociology. She has since worked in Guatemala for
adolescent’s and youth’s sexual and reproductive health
rights and is a staunch supporter of women’s rights as
well. She is also the co-founder of Guatemala’s National
Youth Network for Political Impact. Before coming to
work with WINGS, Danessa worked with Guatemala’s
Community Health Services and has consulted on, among
others, California’s International Health Program’s
focus on Guatemala. Participating in women’s sexual and
reproductive rights’ international conferences, such as
Beijing’s +10 and the 9th Latin American and
Caribbean Women’s Regional Conference is all in a day’s
work for Danessa.
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Carmen Lopez
Nurse/Educator
Carmen studied to
be a nurse after having her four children. She first
started working with WINGS helping out with various Pap
smear clinics and was then contracted to work on the
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Study in 2005. She
later joined WINGS as a permanent employee and now helps
Lourdes with the Cervical Cancer project. “It is great
to be able to help so many women who need it. This
inspires me to learn more, improve my work, and help
more women.” |
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Carmen Roquel
Educator
Carmen is from the
rural area of San Juan Comalapa and works alongside Luis
on the Family Planning project. She is studying nursing
and is a graduated Auxiliary Nurse. “What I love the
most about my job is the great interest there is in
Family Planning in the rural places we visit, because
generally no one in these areas talks about these
subjects. The fruit of my work will be to see that
within the next few years the people we have helped will
be able to see the benefits.” |
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Ana Roquel
Educator
Ana is originally from Comalapa,
Chimaltenango. A trained nurse, she began working for
WINGS in October 2006 providing outreach education in
family planning. "I love working directly in the
communities, helping and instructing the people about
family planning. I am thankful to WINGS for affording me
the opportunity to work on such an important
project." |
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Dorcas Arelí
Yol Xon
Educator
Dorcas is from Chichicastenango, El
Quiché in the north of Guatemala. She is indigenous
Guatemalan and speaks her native language K’iche’, as
well as Spanish. Dorcas is a social worker who joined
WINGS in 2006 and works as a Family Planning Educator
covering the areas of Quiché and Sololá. "I am proud of
my job and that I work daily because I meet many
different people. I love to educate people about the
risks associated with sexual activity, responsible
fatherhood, and family planning methods." |
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Robin
Letostak WINGS
for Men Program Coordinator
Robin joined WINGS as
the WINGS for Men Program Manager on April 17th. In this
role she will oversee the development of the Men’s
program, designing materials and communications
campaigns and overseeing field staff. Robin has a
background in social work, having served as a social
worker and interim social work director for Piedmont
Health Services in Siler City, NC, since 2005. In her
time at Piedmont, Robin worked directly with
Spanish-speaking immigrant communities, providing
maternal and child health education and case management.
Robin holds a Master’s of Social Work from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A.
in English with a philosophy minor from Pomona College.
She is fluent in Spanish.
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Haroldo Castillo
Educator – Men’s Program
Haroldo
comes to WINGS with great volunteer and
community-related work experience. He graduated from the
San Carlos University with a degree in Communications
and has attended many trainings in HIV/AIDS prevention,
which have helped him become more comfortable with the
themes he deals with here at WINGS. “I like working with
WINGS because I believe in the work they do and because
I know it is one of the few organizations that truly
gives back what it receives and that actually does good
for Guatemala.” |
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Marielos Rodriguez
Development Officer
Marielos, first came to WINGS as a volunteer in the
spring of 2007 and has returned after a brief hiatus as
a full member of our staff. She is our newest
Development Officer and is staying with WINGS for a year
while she becomes more acquainted with the inner
workings of an international NGO. Marielos has
previously worked for Planned Parenthood in Virginia,
where she fully realized her passion for and support of
reproductive rights, and plans on pursuing her Masters
in Public Health from the University of Arizona in the
fall of 2008. She is fluent in Spanish and of Guatemalan
descent.
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Board of Directors
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Sue Patterson, BA
Founder and WINGS Chairperson
(For biography details see above)
Kathie Amble, CNP, MA Board President
Kathie, who holds a B.S. of Science in Nursing, has worked in a
variety of positions in a hospital, a college health clinic, and nursing
homes. She received a Nurse Practicioner/Masters degree in 1986 and was
the Manager of School Based Clinics for Minneapolis Department of Health
and Family Support until 2001. As a volunteer with Common Hope (MN)
since 1992, she has developed the formulary for their clinic pharmacy.
Since 2000, she returns to Guatemala every year to manage this program
and volunteer in the clinic.
Kathryn Diamond, BSN, RN, JD Secretary
Kathryn has a broad background in healthcare, law, and business. She
received her B.S. in Nursing and practiced in health as a nurse,
instructor and administrator. After earning a law degree she specialized
in worker's compensation law in California. Kathryn also created a
successful retail business and helped found and run Natus Medical Inc.,
a company dedicated to innovations in infant health.
The Rev. Peter Casparian
Peter is an Episcopal priest and is currently the Rector of Christ
Church in Oyster Bay (Long Island), New York. He holds degrees from
Rhodes College (Memphis) and the University of the South, Sewanee
(Tennessee). Peter has served churches in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky,
and from 1995 until 2004 was the Rector of St. James Church in Florence,
Italy. He has served on the World Missions Committee of the General
Convention of the Episcopal Church, as well as in short-term ministries
on the Pine Ridge and Navajo Reservations, in Mexico, and also in
Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
Sue Wheeler
Sue owns a consulting business in Minnesota, coaching nonprofit
leaders and organizations in transition. She has 25 years of leadership
experience in both corporate and nonprofit sectors. This includes three
years as U.S. Director for Common Hope, an organization working to
improve lives in Guatemala. Sue learned about WINGS through her
participation as a translator on a volunteer medical team that traveled
to Antigua in early 2002. She has been an enthusiastic supporter of our
work ever since, and makes regular trips to Guatemala to see it
first-hand.
Joe Hoffman
Joe is a partner in the San Francisco law firm, Weinberg, Hoffman,
Casey & Ropers, Sausalito, CA. He also sits on the Board of the KNL
Foundation, which is a dedicated supporter of WINGS’ work.
Hunt Kooiker, MD, MPH
Currently working as a Research Physician for Profil Institute for
Clinical Research, Inc. in the San Diego area, Hunt has 25 years
experience in clinical medicine in a variety of settings, including
working on the Navajo Indian Reservation and serving as the Medical
Director of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties. Hunt
consulted with WINGS for our Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevalence
Study in 2004 and early 2005 and returned in 2006 to help WINGS with
training for the new VIA/Cryo Cervical Cancer Prevention program. Hunt
is Board Certified in Public Health and Preventive Medicine and a Fellow
of the American College of Preventive Medicine since 1993.
Evelyn Landry, MPH
Evelyn is a Senior manager and program evaluator with 25 years
experience developing, implementing and evaluating comprehensive
reproductive health programs in more than 35 developing countries. She
currently works for Engender Health in New York City.
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